1 00:00:04,700 --> 00:00:07,600 [Zanele Muholi: Mobile Studios] 2 00:00:08,180 --> 00:00:11,140 [Daveyton, South Africa] 3 00:00:12,260 --> 00:00:14,020 [MUHOLI SPEAKING IN ZULU] Show me your eyes only. 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,760 Breathe in and out. Everything is good now. 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,780 You can do this. No, the fur coat is fine! 6 00:00:28,340 --> 00:00:31,120 I'm trying to form these mobile studios 7 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,680 where you don't need to be fixated in one space. 8 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,200 We live here, pay taxes. 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,570 We are citizens of this country, 10 00:00:39,570 --> 00:00:41,780 which is democratic, they say. 11 00:00:42,500 --> 00:00:45,020 Any space is a possible space. 12 00:00:45,820 --> 00:00:50,680 It's my own way of writing South African LGBTI history. 13 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:52,490 So I don't want to be limited by anything. 14 00:00:52,490 --> 00:00:55,140 I don't want to be in any studio. I want to be unplugged. 15 00:00:57,920 --> 00:00:59,860 That's Bathini, who is from Soweto, 16 00:00:59,860 --> 00:01:02,640 but connecting with Collen, who is in Daveyton. 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,900 And we are assisted by Carla. 18 00:01:04,900 --> 00:01:07,380 And Lerato is the project coordinator. 19 00:01:08,300 --> 00:01:10,819 I try to make sure that I empower the people 20 00:01:10,819 --> 00:01:12,420 that are featuring in the series-- 21 00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:13,820 and people who are around me. 22 00:01:14,940 --> 00:01:16,940 These are "Faces and Phases" participants. 23 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,580 Then there's Katiso with Ovulenda, 24 00:01:19,580 --> 00:01:22,080 who are in another series called "Brave Beauties." 25 00:01:23,540 --> 00:01:26,400 "Brave Beauties" looks specifically at trans women 26 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,500 who are beauty queens. 27 00:01:29,580 --> 00:01:31,580 [MUHOLI SPEAKING IN ZULU] No, I'm with you. 28 00:01:31,580 --> 00:01:33,380 I want to make the best shot. 29 00:01:34,420 --> 00:01:37,820 When there are exhibitions, I take the participants with me, 30 00:01:37,829 --> 00:01:40,270 so they will be able to speak for themselves 31 00:01:40,270 --> 00:01:43,460 and get to see what happens to the photographs. 32 00:01:59,500 --> 00:02:02,320 How many of you have been to exhibitions? 33 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:04,920 Have you been to exhibitions before? 34 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:05,420 [PARTICIPANT] No. 35 00:02:05,820 --> 00:02:10,020 [MUHOLI] I needed to give those humans a space to express, 36 00:02:10,030 --> 00:02:12,760 which is not what they usually do on a daily basis. 37 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,530 [PARTICIPANT] Being shown on the exhibition, 38 00:02:15,530 --> 00:02:21,040 is a sign of showing people that we exist 39 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:22,140 and we are human. 40 00:02:23,420 --> 00:02:25,880 [MUHOLI] Creating the "activist wall," 41 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,360 it's a way in which we destabilize the peaceful imagery 42 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:32,960 of the gallery setting. 43 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,480 [PARTICIPANT, IN ZULU] I want to speak for myself, 44 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,420 be strong, and be the person that I truly am. 45 00:02:38,420 --> 00:02:40,140 ["Trans is beauty'] ["Trans is strength"] 46 00:02:40,140 --> 00:02:43,880 [MUHOLI] Especially gallery settings-- its white walls, beautiful images. 47 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:45,920 It seems as if there's no agency. 48 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,140 Yes, they are these beautiful young individuals 49 00:02:50,150 --> 00:02:51,150 who are on the walls, 50 00:02:51,150 --> 00:02:53,840 but they have their own personal stories to tell. 51 00:02:57,900 --> 00:03:01,500 Surely, the "Brave Beauties" are the only visual document 52 00:03:01,500 --> 00:03:04,240 that has ever existed that has reached that far. 53 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,300 [PARTICIPANT] You can zoom in if you want to, I don't have pimples! 54 00:03:10,860 --> 00:03:14,180 [MUHOLI] So, I just wanted to give a voice to trans women-- 55 00:03:15,620 --> 00:03:19,100 to be heard and be seen in art spaces. 56 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:22,440 I needed to make sure that 57 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,560 people see themselves as worthy humans, 58 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,470 just like every other important woman in South African history 59 00:03:30,470 --> 00:03:33,000 or beyond South African borders.