WHERE WE’RE AT! Other voices on gender was an exhibition of the Summer of Photography 2014 themed ‘Gender’, held at Bozar, Brussels, from 18 June – 31 August 2014.
The artists and photographers featured were: Hélène Amouzou (Togo/Belgium), Rehema Chachage (Tanzania), Angèle Étoundi Essamba (Cameroon/Netherlands), Cecilia Ferreira (South Africa), Lisa Hilli (Papua New Guinea/Australia), Hélène Jayet (Mali/France), Katia Kameli (Algeria/France), Majida Khattari (Morocco/France), Shigeyuki Kihara (Samoa/New Zealand), Michèle Magema (DRC/France), Ato Malinda (Kenya), Zanele Muholi (South Africa), Maud Sulter (Ghana/Scotland), Alberta Whittle (Barbados/South Africa) and Mwangi Hutter (Kenya/Germany).
Curated by Christine Eyene, this exhibition brought together more than 80 works comprising photographs and videos, as well as archival material from the Making Histories Visible project, dealing with the body, gender and sexuality, spanning from the 1980s up to our time. The show also premiered Mwangi Hutter’s large-scale three-screen video installation Turquoise Realm (2014). The works selected gave an insight of visual responses to gendered experiences as diverse as the artists individual concerns, practices and the geographical contexts from which they emerge, be it Africa, the Caribbean, Pacific Islands or today’s recomposed Diasporas.
Broaching historical, socio-political and cultural contexts, WHERE WE’RE AT! Other voices on gender addressed the stereotypification of the non-western body in mainstream visual culture and sought to bring in a culturally diverse approach to female-oriented, feminist, and queer aesthetics. This project was also an invitation for the viewers to share the artists’ visual narratives – from the very intimate, to overt forms of discontent – and reflect on how one’s own body and experience filter through the gaze, and influence one’s perception of a diversity of genders.
The trilingual catalogue (English, French, Dutch) edited by Christine Eyene, with a foreword by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director, is published by SILVANA EDITORIALEand BOZAR BOOKS.
This exhibition was co-produced by BOZAR, Centre for Fine Arts and The Royal Museum for Central Africa in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire.
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