SPACE AND BODY THROUGH THE WORK OF ARAFA C. HAMADI

by Valerie Asiimwe Amani

In Achille Mbebe’s book, Necropolitics (2011), the historian grapples with the complexities of representation, suggesting that representation and recognition are two separate things. Mbebe argues that by allowing oneself to be represented by outsiders, they deny themselves the capacity to create themselves. And if one cannot say who they are, they are at risk of others telling them who they should be.

Considering the dangerous mis-information (and mis-representation) of queerness in East Africa, catalysed by the violent Anti-LGBT policies that have sparked in both Ghana and Uganda; there is a clear case for the urgency in which not only a counter narrative - but a humanising narrative is needed within the East African thinking space.

Arafa’s work, grounded in body and both digital and physical presence, is one that unapologetically explores how to reclaim representation, and therefore the creation of self. As a queer, non-binary artist, by default, the work they make becomes a political marker - one that offers celebration and validation to the Tanzanian queer community; as well a space to be seen and cared for in a society that either ignores you or criminalises you.

The self is at the centre of Arafa’s work, whether that self is auto-biographical or inclusive of other people. Most importantly, they offer a way of identifying with queerness that is not rooted within a Western perspective. An example of this is the dedication to creating safe spaces for queer people that is in Arafa’s work, seen in ALTAR (2022) where East African hair and ornamentation is used to create topographical drawings that emanate labyrinths or mazes. With an architectural background, their works also exist as physical encounters where installation, text and form invite you to reflect on how we share space, and who is allowed space to begin with. Using notions of joy (inspired by the ballroom culture) and movement to create new spaces where queerness can exist freely.

In their poem, A Study 1, Hamadi mentions fitting oneself into ‘ascribed spaces and defined limits’, juxtaposed against works such as Kiburi (2021), LETU 2 (2020) and I, I The Digital Self (2020) - it becomes clear that what is being suggested is limitlessness - or the impossibility of categorising/labelling/ documenting the scope of what we can be when we explore beyond our civic identities. Bringing to the forefront, concepts of not only creation; but a radical re-creation. The androgynous figures, standing tall, adorned with lines and symbols. I find it interesting however that within this representation, there is still an air of anonymity - the faces are not meant to be clear but rather as Hamadi puts it, “blank canvases inviting the viewer to see themselves in the work.”

Grappling with my own frustrations on extreme anti-queer/LGBTQI rhetoric, the works and Hamadi’s words are a way to return to a mental place where life and living is being put at the forefront as opposed to the overwhelming reminder that loss and hatred are looming over you and your idea of what love is.

Given the context of the rainbow flag being recently outlawed in Zanzibar, it is a coincidence that many of these works do not have colour in them. Perhaps in retrospect, this may be a reminder that the erasure of something does not mean it ceases to exist. In the absence of colour, there is still possibility for the presence of art, imagination and rebirth.

As a collection of works, they form an important contribution to how the queer community will be remembered within the East African context. Arafa describes their works as part of a conversation, further unfolding into new possibilities of what it means to be black, queer and Tanzanian.

Amani is a Tanzanian interdisciplinary artist and writer. Her practice interrogates the ways in which body, language and the mythical are used to situate (or isolate) the self within community.

She has exhibited internationally including Lagos, Paris, Cape Town and Leipzig, with a recent solo performance at South London Gallery and Alliance Française (Dar es salaam). Her work has been featured in Art Monthly and Hyperallergic, amongst others.

Amani holds an MFA from The University of Oxford and was the recipient of the 2021 Ashmolean Museum Vivien Leigh Prize and a winner for the 2022 Ingram Prize.