Exhibition Catalogue by Arafa C. Hamadi, Curated by Jepkorir Rose
Photograph by Théa Gourdon (2021)
Arafa C. Hamadi is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tanzania and Kenya. Their work deals with long-term practice based research that grows through world building in both digital and physical realms. In the physical realm, they design festival sets and installation pieces. Their digital work encompasses digital worlds, immersive VR spaces and moving images. Arafa’s work explores their queerness in relation to space and occupancy, focusing on joy and tangible ways of connecting the East African queer community. They do this not just through their art, but also through organising small-scale events, curation, research and active participation in the growing Ballroom scene in their region.
Arafa has been featured in exhibitions in Mozambique, Tanzania, the USA and online. They were part of the ICA Fellowship (SA, 2020), the New Dimensions Lab by Electric South (SA, 2022), and participated in the ProHelvetica Residency in Switzerland in Summer 2022. They have curated various residencies and exhibitions in Tanzania, most notably the 2022 UMOJA Residency in Tanzania.
Currently, they are developing their 3D/VR work, “LETU 2.0” with the support of Electric South (SA), alongside a physical event in Dar-es-Salaam with Aichieli Temu. The space, ALTÆR, aims to be a model for events that prioritise community and focus on the safety of their marginalised attendees. Arafa is part of the 2023 Building Beyond Mentorship programme by the Prince Claus Fund & Creative Industries Fund NL.
* note that in referring to Arafa C. Hamadi’s work, they perfer to be addressed by their first name rather than their last name.
In Achille Mbebe’s book, Necropolitics (2011), the historian grapples with the complexities of representation, suggesting that representation and recognition are two separate things. Mbebe argues that by allowing oneself to be represented by outsiders, they deny themselves the capacity to create themselves. And if one cannot say who they are, they are at risk of others telling them who they should be.
Considering the dangerous mis-information (and mis-representation) of queerness in East Africa, catalysed by the violent Anti-LGBT policies that have sparked in both Ghana and Uganda; there is a clear case for the urgency in which not only a counter narrative - but a humanising narrative is needed within the East African thinking space.
Arafa’s work, grounded in body and both digital and physical presence, is one that unapologetically explores how to reclaim representation, and therefore the creation of self. As a queer, non-binary artist, by default, the work they make becomes a political marker - one that offers celebration and validation to the Tanzanian queer community; as well a space to be seen and cared for in a society that either ignores you or criminalises you.
The self is at the centre of Arafa’s work, whether that self is auto-biographical or inclusive of other people. Most importantly, they offer a way of identifying with queerness that is not rooted within a Western perspective. An example of this is the dedication to creating safe spaces for queer people that is in Arafa’s work, seen in ALTAR (2022) where East African hair and ornamentation is used to create topographical drawings that emanate labyrinths or mazes. With an architectural background, their works also exist as physical encounters where installation, text and form invite you to reflect on how we share space, and who is allowed space to begin with. Using notions of joy (inspired by the ballroom culture) and movement to create new spaces where queerness can exist freely.
In their poem, A Study 1, Hamadi mentions fitting oneself into ‘ascribed spaces and defined limits’, juxtaposed against works such as Kiburi (2021), LETU 2 (2020) and I, I The Digital Self (2020) - it becomes clear that what is being suggested is limitlessness - or the impossibility of categorising/labelling/ documenting the scope of what we can be when we explore beyond our civic identities. Bringing to the forefront, concepts of not only creation; but a radical re-creation. The androgynous figures, standing tall, adorned with lines and symbols. I find it interesting however that within this representation,
2022, La Becque Residency, Switzerland
there is still an air of anonymity - the faces are not meant to be clear but rather as Hamadi puts it, “blank canvases inviting the viewer to see themselves in the work.”
Grappling with my own frustrations on extreme anti-queer/LGBTQI rhetoric, the works and Hamadi’s words are a way to return to a mental place where life and living is being put at the forefront as opposed to the overwhelming reminder that loss and hatred are looming over you and your idea of what love is.
Given the context of the rainbow flag being recently outlawed in Zanzibar, it is a coincidence that many of these works do not have colour in them. Perhaps in retrospect, this may be a reminder that the erasure of something does not mean it ceases to exist. In the absence of colour, there is still possibility for the presence of art, imagination and rebirth.
As a collection of works, they form an important contribution to how the queer community will be remembered within the East African context. Arafa describes their works as part of a conversation, further unfolding into new possibilities of what it means to be black, queer and Tanzanian.
Amani is a Tanzanian interdisciplinary artist and writer. Her practice interrogates the ways in which body, language and the mythical are used to situate (or isolate) the self within community.
She has exhibited internationally including Lagos, Paris, Cape Town and Leipzig, with a recent solo performance at South London Gallery and Alliance Française (Dar es salaam). Her work has been featured in Art Monthly and Hyperallergic, amongst others.
Amani holds an MFA from The University of Oxford and was the recipient of the 2021 Ashmolean Museum Vivien Leigh Prize and a winner for the 2022 Ingram Prize.
Imagine being unseen. Imagine being part of a colourful, effervescent community that the society you belong to constantly tries to suppress. Imagine living in a [BODY] that the state constantly incites violence upon and continuously uses as a scape-goat for its own failures. Imagine inhabiting a [BODY] that remains constantly destroyed. Imagine being other.
In this exhibition, the artist aims to highlight these [BODIES] through the symbolic removal of colour, finding a graphic and visual language to showcase their aesthetic expressions, the reclamation of space and their sheer audacity of life. That despite the state-sanctioned erasure, these [BODIES] continue to exist and thrive in the region. The creation and eventual exhibition of this work is an act of belligerence, kiburi , creating despite being continuously “unseen”.
This retrospective exhibition will showcase a series of colourless works, each addressing the marginalised identity in relation to space. Each work addresses various aspects of the [BODY’S] identity, from gender and aesthetic expression in young people ( kiburi , 2021 and Personal Explorations of the Digital Self , 2021), to rewriting histories ( The Kujiona Series , 2020) and occupying spaces ( ALTAR , 2022). This work does not aim to conclusively represent the community in the region, rather give a glimpse of one part of the community’s expression through the artist’s own personal experience.
[BODY] here is used in place of the unseen community. If this feels like selfcensoring, it’s because it is.
“The worst part of embodiment is being unseen.”
Freshwater , Akwaeke Emezi
ALTAR is a culmination of the artists’ experiences exploring local queer spaces in Switzerland, while also exploring the effects of solitude while immersed in an unfamiliar culture. Initially conceptualized to be an iteration of the labyrinthine SAFE Series (2019 -), ALTAR became an abstraction of multiple spaces in which the artist felt comfortable and safe while in Switzerland. They extensively explored the young ballroom culture as it currently exists in Lausanne, Zurich and Geneva and gained lessons about community organisation from members of the Houses of Phoenix and Poderosa, as well as a few prominent 007s, and were overwhelmed by encounters with icons and legends of the wider European scene. This cultural exploration, archived through symbology derived from a study of labyrinths and fractal designs in East African ornamentation and hairstyles, is abstractly brought to you through various spatial arrangements.
This is an on-going work, forming itself through the spaces it borrows from and exists within. ALTAR is the artist’s physical manifestation of reverence.
Credits:
Work was created as part of the Pro-Helvetia Principle Residency during the summer of 2022. The residency and exhibition was hosted at La Becque Artist Residency.
Mimi binafsi na wenzio wangu, tunajivunia. Ndio maana tukidai hii asili yetu, pia tunadai hii ngozi ambayo tunaivaa kila siku. Sanaa hii ya kujichora ni njia moja tu ambayo tumechagua, na kwa kutambua umuhimu wa historia ya kujichora nchini mwetu, tangu miaka kabla ya ukoloni, tunaunda ngozi mpya inyotufaa miili yetu ya sasa.
“kiburi”(2021-) is a multimedia body of work that explores design and thematic characteristic of pre-colonial East African indigenous tattoo practices, combining contemporary Swahili coast-inspired symbols with aesthetic drawing techniques inspired by the Makonde and the Barabaig tribes. A diverse set of 3D scanned bodies, known as “echoes” in current and past works by the artist, are used as canvases for the new designs, and are presented on pedestals reminiscent of fine-art sculptures.
The first edition of the digital works were presented on large fine art prints, partially painted by the artists to evoke a sense of relief – scars left behind through the invasive art of tattooing. While the printed pieces are 2D, Augmented Reality is incorporated to allow the audience to experience the way the artwork wraps around the entire body.
Credits:
Work was created as part of the Digital Artist Residency at Nafasi Art Space in September and October 2021. Funded by the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021 of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners
To activate the Augmented reality feature, please download the Black Terminus applicaiton on your smart phone and point at the images, or check out the videos via my instagram account, @arafa.buids .
Print on Vinyl, Augmented Reality Enabled 100cm by 150cm Tanzania, 2021
During the DAR November 2020 residency, which took place online on their website (https://digitalartistresidency.org/) and instagram (@digitalartistresidency), I shared an exploration that used 3D scanning software as a means of archiving physical memory. Through video, I explored a means of capturing my body through real-time scans, thus creating moving images that looks like the skin is constantly fluctuating, a reality that is continuously being read, interpreted and often misunderstood.
Full Project can be viewed here; https://youtu.be/4xr5mAGmMkk
This short film is the visual representation of a poem I wrote in 2017 titled “I, I”. This poem was a reclamation of my body and autonomy, written while I was attempting to refit myself into a society that rejected my sexual and gender identity. The various figures that appear in the film are 3D scanned captures of myself, recreating several different moments of despair, doubt and selfharm that I continue to experience into the present, even as I develop through my new selves.
Film can be viewed here; https://youtu.be/hjoKzM4OwcE
A short film 3 minutes
I, I, the Digital Self
In this series, I explore my culture with an intent to find myself within it. I am from Dar-es-Salaam, and I have found myself actively and inactively living in other towns along this Swahili coast. This has led me to a process of relearning about my home, the cultures and the people who live here. The Kujiona Series is born from this process, and includes the conversations and creations I have accumulated in the past three months.
The first part of the series – images of a scavenged and painted Swahili dhow – follows a three part progression that moves from collecting ( Kusanya ), relearning ( Jifunze ) and reimagining oneself ( Jione ). Through this work, I hope to present a very personal process of rediscovering my culture and an intentional repositioning of myself and my queer identity.
The titular meditative film, Kujiona , follows the progression of a protagonist, myself, having two conversations. The first is with the scavenged dhow that I have created an artwork out of. The second is a conversation with Kevin Mwachiro – a queer Swahili man who has also found himself through engaging with the coast. This is presented through snippets overlaid with sounds from the coast that are familiar, and I hope this captures the continuous dialogue I am having with my home.
Film can be viewed here; https://youtu.be/4xr5mAGmMkk
Credits:
This work was created as part of the Bakanal De Afrique Fellowship while living in Kenya in 2020.
Imagine a space, imbued with an energy so queer and effervescent that it feels like we have escaped our reality and slipped into a world of sexual and gender freedom unlike anything we have ever been allowed to imagine. This is what we aim to build here.
When you step into the RISE party, you are greeted by a house transformed. Various colors indicate the multiplicity of experiences available, each delicately designed with nostalgia in mind. The garage has turned into a salon, adorned with the same posters from the salons your mama, shangazi or dada would take you to. Here is where you first heard the word shoga in reference to friends or lovers, not quite sure where it lands. Between these familiar posters, you’ll notice some contemporary queer icons – from Kenyan writer and activist Kevin Mwachiro, to the legendary South African icon Brenda Fassie, to Ugandan feminist and activist Stella Nyanzi, and finally, to our own Tanzanian LGBTQI+ icons.
The living room is the dance-floor and the soundscape is disco, where you first move in synchronicity with a body you typically would not be able to get close to. The walls are masked by the repetitive, hard pink projection of the word Dar-es-Salaam, as if a silent reclamation of our place in this city. The projector light drowns everything in shadows, creating sharp silhouettes of the gyrating and vogueing bodies. The stairway, which is lit in hues of green and decorated in silver, blue and purple streamers, is reminiscent of the DIY ballroom aesthetics.
Glitter and bold make-up is a unifying aesthetic, and you are invited to adorn yourself. You are in a space that asks you to refocus on your joy, as it is worth living in. This space is private, yes, but it has been intentionally and ferociously created for you and all the other, forgotten queer Tanzanian citizens.
In Tanzania, homosexuality is criminalised in sections 154 - 157 of the penal code. Within these codes, acts of intimacy between LGBTQI+ people are described as “carnal knowledge… against the order of nature”1 and “act of gross indecency” 2; archaic, colonialist language that diminishes the lives of the Tanzanian citizens it refers to. These laws are frequently used by lawmakers and enforcers (the police) to unfairly target, prosecute and even ignore the violence against sexual and gender minorities in the country.
1 Penal Code 1945, Section 154 Unnatural Offences: “(1) Any person who–(a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or …(c) permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature, commits an offence, and is liable to imprisonment for life and in any case to imprisonment for a term of not less than thirty years.”
2 Penal Code 1945, Section 138A Acts of Gross Indecency Between Persons: “Any person who, in public or private commits, or is party to the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any person of, any act of gross indecency with another person, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not exceeding five years or to a fine not less than one hundred thousand shillings and not exceeding three hundred thousand shillings.”
Photograph by Lilian Flaviana
Underreporting of these incidents leads to a lack of evidence, which makes anti-discrimination policy-making near impossible in this East African region. A prime example of this could be in our neighbouring country, Kenya, in which the Supreme Court upheld the criminalization of same-sex conduct under articles 162 and 165 of the penal code, stating that LGBTQI+ peoples are unfairly discriminated against as a group, despite the evidence given for the underreporting of such cases3. In Uganda, not only is homosexuality ciriminalised in sections 145 and 148 of the penal code, but in 2014 parliament did pass and eventually sign the “Anti-Homosexuality” bill into law before it was invalidated by the Constitutional Court of Uganda that same year4
[In early 2023, disinformation and anti-queer propaganda begun spreading online through social media throughout East Africa5. Various politicians proposed anti-queer bills in parliament in Tanzania 6, Kenya 7 and Uganda. Since then, there has been a rise in (underreported) anti-queer violence in Tanzania and Kenya, as well as large protests led by both Christian and Muslim religious leaders. On 29th May 2023, the Ugandan president signed into law one of the harshest anti-queer laws in the world 8.]
As a privileged queer individual, I attempt to engage with these facts, especially since I decided to relocate back to my home-town of Dar-es-Salaam. And in accepting this and my inexperience within the policy or law making space, I found myself battling with the reality that my country may never accept or celebrate an outwardly non-binary, pansexual artist or those I choose to love.
At least, not now. In finding my joy, I decided to refocus on my immediate community and see how I can “extend my privilege” and share the joys I’ve found with those who don’t live this reality often.
Thus, we imagine safe spaces. “Safer spaces”, as Erica Gachoka founder of METAMOUR, a Nairobi-based queer event, said to me while I revelled in a space unbelievably and uniquely occupied by only queer and femme individuals from the city. I have been lucky to experience multiple such spaces in Kenya, and it is truly awe-inspiring to see the communities there come together despite the horrendous policies and discrimination preserved by their country.
Mwamba Nyanda, executive director of Tanzania Trans Initiative (TTI) imagines a safer space in Dar-es-Salaam as a space where “one can be present and feel welcomed, like they are part of the country, that community and that space and security. They need to feel secure and… [that we can] go home in peace.”
TTI is an NGO that was established in 2013, and remains one of the only LGBTQI+ organizations still operational in Tanzania today. They focus on advocacy, capacity building, raising awareness and creating spaces where their members can come together.
5 Anti-LGBTQ disinformation surges online in East Africa, France24, <https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230531-anti-lgbtq-disinformation-surges-online-in-east-africa>
6 MPs call for tough laws on same-sex relations, The Citizen <https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/mps-call-for-tough-laws-on-same-sex-relations--4196442> 7 Kenyan anti-homosexuality bill would expel LGBTQ refugees, Al Jazeera, <https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/04/26/kenyan-anti-homosexuality-bill-would-expel-lgbtq-refugees/> 8 Uganda enacts harsh anti-LGBTQ law including death penalty, Reuters, <https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ugandas-museveni-approves-anti-gay-law-parliament-speaker-says-2023-05-29/>
Photograph by Lilian Flaviana
In studying and engaging all these different spaces, and how individuals choose to imagine and build safer spaces for their communities, we were able to build RISE. It is a queer space, intentionally created to provide secure spaces, facilitate joy and give experiences to queer people in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Tura is a Dar-based visual artist and was one of the attendees of the first edition of the RISE party. Echoing Mwamba’s words, she says, “there is definitely a need for safe spaces in Dar. As an artist, I’ve been privileged to visit a few amazing safe spaces… but it is not the same case for other people in my community.” On the party itself, she says, “being in a place where I feel free and could be my true self was my highlight of the party! I loved the vibrant and authentic look of the space but mostly the vibe that everyone had! It was a good experience which I hope to be happening again soon but this time [with] even more people [from] the community.”
Another anonymous attendee also shared that the party was “an incredible experience. The set up and the theme were amazing, and it was incredible to be surrounded by so many people from the community. It was my first time in a space like that, and I do hope there are more.” They also added that, about a month on from the first party, they have stayed in touch with the new friends they connected with at the party and are “thankful for the space being a safe space to meet others like me.”
This is why RISE, and spaces like this, are important and necessary. Not only is it a space for us to come together, but it is also a call for us to remember who we are and the greatness that we can achieve. And while we can acknowledge and support those who advocate for our protection and rights to freedom, we can also spend time within our joy and live life as it was intended to be lived.
Article by a Tanzanian Artist, Photos by Lilian Flaviana written in 2021 for OFFTO Magazine, updated in 2023 for [BODY] Exhibition
Photograph by Lilian Flaviana
[BODY]
Authored and Designed by:
Arafa C. HamadiCurated and Edited by:
Jepkorir RoseThank you to the contributers; Valerie Asiimwe Amani | www.valerieamani.com
Lilian Flaviana| www.instagram.com/lilianflaviana
Théa Gourdon | www.instagram.com/thea.gourdon
Find out more about Arafa’s works: arafabuilds@gmail.com www. linktr.ee/arafabuilds
Jepkorir Rose is a curator based in Nairobi, Kenya. Alongside artists and affiliating practices she works to create opportunities/spaces to encounter each other in areas of interest. Her recent work is in participatory design and space-making related to infrastructural or institutional forms enabling artistic and curatorial production.
