Understandings of self and other occur universally through images. Traversing history and culture, the production, presentation and apprehension of images is essential to how persons come to know themselves and make sense of their relations with others. Can it be said that certain image making practices are associated with particular ways of being human? Do imaging media have different effects cross-culturally? What new potentialities and challenges do digital processes pose to visual conceptions of identity? Under what conditions can images produce and encourage empathy? In posing these questions we invoke debates about the efficacy, impact and agency of images. We particularly encourage applications from researchers working in the medium of portraiture.