Discarded began as an online photography magazine investigating the nature of discarding images — the photographs that are thrown away, overlooked, or deemed unworthy of publication. In 2021, it debuted a new section called XXX, devoted to a fresh perspective on modern sexual photography, curated by photographer and writer Linda Zhengová. What started as an open call became an online exhibition, and the quality of the submissions and the audience response convinced the editors to transform XXX into a standalone biannual print magazine.
The publication insists that photographic explorations of desire, sexuality, and the body should be made visible in order to remove the stigma that has long surrounded them. The editors believe that a printed magazine can offer an intense and liberating visual experience — one that exists outside the algorithmic censorship of social media platforms, where images of the body are routinely suppressed regardless of their artistic merit.
Discarded takes what was thrown away — the rejected image, the taboo subject — and gives it a permanent home on paper. It is a publication that understands that the most interesting photographs are often the ones that someone decided you should not see.