Like many cities in the world Lagos is a city of extremes. Individuals who fit into the mould of heteronormativity (especially those protected by wealth) are considered worthy of protection and celebration while others (feminised, queer and poor bodies) are rendered invisible and unworthy. Queer and poor people are not only invisible, they are also unsafe due to discrimination, criminalization and violence.

“The Royal House of Allure” is a name of a (safe) House on mainland Lagos where members of the queer community in need of boarding (due to various circumstances) live together. A House is a family unit that one is able to select into; a place of gathering for those who are not allowed to gather anywhere else. Houses are more than just places of survival, they are a  physical embodiment of radical queer expression that encourage solidarity. House culture originates from New York’s ballroom culture which emerged in the 1920s and reached an apex in the 1980s — a matriarch, referred to as house mother, provides housing as well as a support system for members of the LGBTQIA+ community (referred to as her children). These establishments actively advocate for inclusivity and provide members of the community with a space to construct a sense of self through artistic practices within beauty, fashion and music.

In 2019, Mlangeni spent six weeks in Lagos photographing the queer community at The Royal House of Allure. His awareness of the House came as a result of interactions with well-known queer figures in Nigeria, through social media. This photographic essay forms part of a larger body of work photographing queer communities on the continent (specifically South Africa and the DRC).

The Royal House of Allure contains simple images that reveal the complexities behind representation. The images diverge at a single specific point; those that display fantasy through glamour where subjects actively pose for the camera and those that offer quieter banal moments where subjects are simply going on about their day at the house: braiding each other’s hair, having conversations, sewing clothes, napping, cooking, laughing and taking selfies. They offer us a glimpse of the love and acceptance between community members within the social structure of a House.

John Berger saw glamour as a modern invention linked to ideas of grace, elegance and authority but of course, glamour is also inextricably linked with visibility, notions of beauty and power —those who see themselves (and are seen) feel powerful while others are rendered unseeable and therefore unworthy. Although it seems so obvious that it might require no comment, representation matters and images have the potential to influence systems of thought, views and opinions. The idea that images have the potential to influence systems of thought goes a long way in explaining Mlangeni’s commitment towards documenting various communities in his practice. The Royal House of Allure forms part of his broader practise of (re)imaging and (re)imagining vulnerable bodies as safe, seen and worthy of protection and celebration.

The series was presented at the second Lagos Biennial (26 October–23 November 2019) alongside works by over forty local and international artists and artist collectives.

Text by Nkgopoleng Moloi

Sabelo Mlangeni: The Royal House of Allure

blank projects

Opening 6pm, Thursday January 23
January 23 – March 7

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Combining aspects of performance, weaving, sculpture and installation that draw upon his background, Igshaan Adams’s practice is an ongoing, personal investigation into identity and intersectionality. The quiet activism of Igshaan Adams work speaks to his experiences of racial, religious and sexual liminality. Igshaan Adams uses the material and formal iconographies of Islam and ‘coloured’ culture to develop a more equivocal, phenomenological approach towards these concerns and to offer a novel, affective view of cultural hybridity.

What Kalea of the Cape Left in This World (1848)

According to the inventory of the Orphan Chamber of The Cape of Good Hope*

One bed and accessories
One wardrobe
One ditto
One long and one short chest
Three paintings
A clock (defect)
Some kitchen tools
Three Tables
Seven assorted chairs

One bed and accessories
With the imprint of sound slumber
One wardrobe
Everything in its place
One ditto
Because sometimes you need more space
One long and one short chest
And the footsteps in-between
Three paintings
Glowing in the afternoon light
A clock (defect)
Op haar eie tyd
Some kitchen tools
To fill empty bellies
Three Tables
Plek vir almal by die tafel
Seven assorted chairs
For seven assorted friends
and their stukkende stories.

Yet all that remains is a piece of paper that records:

One bed and accessories
One wardrobe
One ditto
One long and one short chest
Three paintings
A clock (defect)
Some kitchen tools
Three Tables
Seven assorted chairs

Text by Saarah Jappie

Igshaan Adams: Stukkinne Stories

Opening 6pm, Thursday January 23
January 23 – March 7

blank projects

10 Lewin Street
Woodstock, 7925
Cape Town, South Africa

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The formal composition of the paintings lend them a traditional, almost anachronistic feeling that is interrupted by the artist’s contemporary clothes, intricately patterned fabrics often bearing the insignia of fake fashion brands commonly found at local street markets. The artist’s focus on beauty is also manifested in the plants, flowers and accessories that his subjects hold or are surrounded by. Samson’s works speak to his pride as a young African man, while at the same time a looming darkness permeates the paintings, suggestive of something more ominous.

We had the chance to meet the artist in his current studio in Cape Town. Discover this meeting in the video below.

Cinga Samson is a very touching, sensitive and sincere visual artist. It was with an extreme timidity and softness that he told us that his works are the result of a questioning about masculinity and Africanity, a questioning above all aesthetic without any real search for an answer. He shared with us a personal conviction and the role that art can play in our contemporary societies, although his art is not involved in any political or racial movement.

To date, Samson has held three solo exhibitions at blank projects: Safari Fantasy (2017), Ubugqoboka Magqoboka (2016) and Thirty Pieces of Silver (2015). He has participated in several group shows, including Mapping Black Identities (Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, 2019); Hacer Noche (Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Oaxaca de Juarez, 2018); open agenda (blank projects, Cape Town, 2018); A Painting Today (Stevenson, Cape Town, 2017); In the night I remember (Stevenson, Johannesburg, 2013); Our Fathers (AVA Gallery, Cape Town, 2012) and Strata at Greatmore Studios in Cape Town (2011), where he completed a residency. In 2017, Samson won the prestigious Tollman Award, and in 2018 he exhibited with Nicholas Hlobo at the Maitland Institute, in a two-person show titled Umthamo.

Cinga Samson is represented by Blank Project.

www.blankprojects.com

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