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[Zanele Muholi: Mobile Studios]

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[Daveyton, South Africa]

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[MUHOLI SPEAKING IN ZULU][br]Show me your eyes only.

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Breathe in and out.[br]Everything is good now.

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You can do this.[br]No, the fur coat is fine!

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I'm trying to form these mobile studios

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where you don't need to be[br]fixated in one space.

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We live here, pay taxes.

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We are citizens of this country,

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which is democratic, they say.

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Any space is a possible space.

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It's my own way of writing[br]South African LGBTI history.

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So I don't want to be limited by anything.

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I don't want to be in any studio.[br]I want to be unplugged.

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That's Bathini, who is from Soweto,

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but connecting with Collen,[br]who is in Daveyton.

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And we are assisted by Carla.

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And Lerato is the project coordinator.

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I try to make sure that I[br]empower the people

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that are featuring in the series--

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and people who are around me.

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These are "Faces and Phases" participants.

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Then there's Katiso with Ovulenda,

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who are in another series[br]called "Brave Beauties."

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"Brave Beauties" looks[br]specifically at trans women

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who are beauty queens.

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[MUHOLI SPEAKING IN ZULU][br]No, I'm with you.

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I want to make the best shot.

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When there are exhibitions,[br]I take the participants with me,

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so they will be able[br]to speak for themselves

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and get to see what happens[br]to the photographs.

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How many of you have been to exhibitions?

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Have you been to exhibitions before?

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[PARTICIPANT] No.

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[MUHOLI] I needed to give those humans[br]a space to express,

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which is not what they usually do[br]on a daily basis.

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[PARTICIPANT] Being shown on the exhibition,

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is a sign of showing people that we exist

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and we are human.

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[MUHOLI] Creating the "activist wall,"

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it's a way in which we[br]destabilize the peaceful imagery

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of the gallery setting.

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[PARTICIPANT, IN ZULU][br]I want to speak for myself,

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be strong,[br]and be the person that I truly am.

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["Trans is beauty'][br]["Trans is strength"]

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[MUHOLI] Especially gallery settings--[br]its white walls, beautiful images.

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It seems as if there's no agency.

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Yes, they are these[br]beautiful young individuals

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who are on the walls,

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but they have their own[br]personal stories to tell.

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Surely, the "Brave Beauties"[br]are the only visual document

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that has ever existed[br]that has reached that far.

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[PARTICIPANT] You can zoom in if you want to,[br]I don't have pimples!

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[MUHOLI] So, I just wanted to[br]give a voice to trans women--

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to be heard and be seen[br]in art spaces.

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I needed to make sure that

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people see themselves[br]as worthy humans,

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just like every other important woman[br]in South African history

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or beyond South African borders.