This exhibition is currently on view at the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg (address: 237 Loop Street; tel: (033) 345 1404 )
The exhibition was officially launched at Natal Museum on Saturday, 26 August 2006 and will run until October 31st 2006. For more information contact the Pietermaritzburg Gay and Lesbian Network (tel: 033 342-6165). Thereafter the exhibition will transfer to the East London Museum until 28 February 2007.

The stories and photographs in this exhibition are of real people. They were interviewed for a GALA oral history project, and their full stories have been published in a book with the same title as the exhibition (click here to read more about the book).

The exhibition collects a group of young people whose account of their lives affirm their identities as sexually different, and claim their right under our Constitution as equal and proud South Africans.

Some of the stories also deal with pain, discrimination and ignorance. The Constitution has officially affirmed the equality and dignity of people of all sexual orientations. But—as Justice Cameron has noted—widespread hostility means that lifestyles that are ‘different’ are hidden and not adequately represented in the public realm.

The exhibition is not only about young people, but has also been designed as an educational tool for them (though it is relevant to the general public). Teachers can print a handy resource based on the book and the exhibition here: supplement 1.

Scroll down for our 'sangoma' (traditional healer) exhibition, and a downloadable poster from our Deaf project.

Poster presentation based on material from GALA's Deaf Life History Project

Everything Must Come To Light

An exhibition of digital photographs by Zanele Muholi (2002). Compiled by the Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa.

Early in 2002, the makers of the documentary "Everything Must Come To Light" invited photographer Zanele Muholi to accompany them and take photographs during the filming. These are some of the images that resulted. The documentary focuses on three same-sex identified women who are sangomas (traditional healers) living in Soweto, South Africa. Muholi's photographs offer the viewer an immediate and intimate glimpse into the day-to-day lives of these dynamic women.

Series 1:

The photographs in series 1 (above) were taken at the Faraday Muti Market in the Johannesburg CBD. The word 'muti' refers to the traditional African medicines, herbs and animal parts used by traditional healers for medicinal purposes. Sangomas regularly converge on the Faraday Muti Market to buy and sell such provisions as it is the largest market of its kind in the Johannesburg area.

The photographs in series 2 (below) were taken at the consulting room of one of the sangomas, Gog'Lindi. Also pictured (in the photo on the extreme right) is the co-director of the documentary, Mpumi Njinge.

Series 2:

The photographs in series 3 (below) show a chicken being slaughtered by two sangomas (Tshidi and Jama) as part of a traditional ritual ceremony for the ancestors.

Series 3:

The ancestors are also being invoked in series 4 (below) which shows the sangomas drumming and dancing.

Series 4:

In series 5 (below), one of the sangomas, Jama, is explaining that she is going to a sacred place to pick healing herbs, and that she needs to take offerings for the ancestors, including objects they would appreciate, such as this African beaded mug. The last picture in the sequence below is the only one that was cut from the documentary (and was not taken by photographer Zanele Muholi).

Series 5:

The exhibition has been shown at the 2002 Knysna Pink Loerie Festival and at the Pride Heritage Day Festival in September 2002.