uMakhosi Gadisa, from the Country Girls series; from The i-jusi Portfolio Number 3: South African Photographs
Sabelo Mlangeni, South African, born 1980
negative 2004; print 2013
Gelatin silver print on Baryta Fibre 300g archival paper
6/50
Image: 7 1/16 × 10 11/16 in. (18 × 27.1 cm)
Sheet: 16 9/16 × 13 7/16 in. (42 × 34.1 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Marina and Andrew E. Lewin, Class of 1981
2013.67.9
Geography
Place Made: South Africa, Southern Africa, Africa
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Africa
Not on view
Inscriptions
Signed, on reverse, upper left, in graphite: Sabelo Mlangeni; numbered, lower left, on reverse, in graphite: 6/50; Embossed, lower right: [i-jusi symbol]
Label
Three figures are captured in a moment of joy and flirtatious intimacy against a plain brick background. Sabelo Mlangeni documents everyday queer African life. Umakhosi Gadisa is from his Country Girls series, captures the glamour and perseverance of queer and trans people in the South African countryside. Many queer people in the countryside work as Zulu healers called sangomas. The title, uMakhosi Gadisa, refers to the ancestral wives of sangomas, who are often the same gender as the healers. Mlangeni’s evocation of a Zulu concept to represent three gay men in a warm embrace is part of his desire to represent queer African experiences that are often erased and deemed as “unAfrican.”
From the 2023 exhibition Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, curated by Alexandra Thomas, Curatorial Research Associate
Course History
WGSS 10.01, Sex, Gender and Society, Douglas Moody, Winter 2021
HIST 66/AAAS 15, History of Africa Since 1800, Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Winter 2021
THEA 10.64/AAAS 54.05/WGSS 66.15, Feminist and Queer Africa on Stage and Screen, Laura Edmondson, Winter 2022
Theater 10.64, African and African-American Studies 54.05, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 66.15, Feminist and Queer Africa, Laura Edmondson, Spring 2023
Exhibition History
Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, and Northeast Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 22, 2023–May 25, 2024.
Provenance
Marina and Andrew E. Lewin, New York, New York; lent to present collection, 2013; given to present collection, 2018.
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu