RM Panel Talk

On Saturday, 31 October, from 3–4 PM, Galerie Ron Mandos invites you to a panel talk accompanying Zanele Muholi’s current exhibition Hlanganani (“Unite”).

Zanele Muholi will join the conversation via Zoom, alongside Savannah Wolin and Rafik Opti, participants in Faces and Phases Amsterdam. The Amsterdam-based project extends Muholi’s ongoing photographic series documenting and celebrating Black LGBTQIA+ lives, highlighting the importance of visibility and preserving personal histories.

Savannah Wolin is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in sociology whose work explores Blackness, transness and womanhood through theatre, fiction and poetry. Rafik Opti is an Amsterdam-based filmmaker and archivist whose work uses film as a form of healing, political expression and solidarity.

The discussion will also feature Tengbeh Kamara, a Dutch-Liberian, self-taught photographer based in Amsterdam whose work spans documentary, autobiographical and political photography. Their project The Trans Yearbook comprises more than 70 portraits of trans people who no longer recognise themselves in their old school photographs.

The conversation will be moderated by Shirley den Hartog, Director of Studio Erwin Olaf and a long-standing supporter of Amsterdam’s queer community. Together, the speakers will share different perspectives on queer visibility, identity and the importance of preserving and sharing personal stories.

The talk will take place in the Faces and Phases room at the back of the gallery. The conversation will take place in English. Entry is free.

Date: Saturday 31 October
Time: 3 to 4 PM
Location: Galerie Ron Mandos, Prinsengracht 282, 1016 HJ Amsterdam

About the speakers:

Zanele Muholi: Zanele Muholi (b. 1972, Umlazi, Durban) is an internationally recognized visual activist and photographer, known for a body of work that documents and celebrates the lives of South Africa’s Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex communities. Since 2006, Muholi’s practice has grown into one of the most significant visual archives of Black LGBTQIA+ life anywhere in the world. This year Zanele has been awarded the Hasselblad Award for their major achievements in documenting queer lives around the world.

Savannah Wolin: Savannah (She/her) is a multidisciplinary artist with a background as a sociologist. In the form of theatre, fictional writing and poetry she explores what it means to be human in the margins. Savannah has appeared in multiple tv-programs speaking on Blackness, Transness, and womanhood. She appeared as one of the first Black transgender women on National Dutch and Belgium TV and is one of the youngest directors of a great hall play in the Netherlands.

Rafik Opti: Opti is an Amsterdam-based multidisciplinary filmmaker and archivist. Their practice operates at the intersection of image-making and solidarity. Opti uses film as a site of healing and political expression, drawing on the visual language of protest to confront power and imagine liberation. Their documentary Black Joy (Blaka Koloku) received the People’s Choice Award at the Black Trans Short Film Festival.

Tengbeh Kamara: Kamara is a Dutch-Liberian, self-taught photographer based in Amsterdam whose work spans documentary, autobiographical and political photography. Their project The Trans Yearbook comprises more than 70 portraits of trans people who no longer recognise themselves in their old school photographs.⁠

Shirley den Hartog: den Hartog has been, for more than 25 years, the manager, business partner, and pillar of support for Erwin Olaf. Along with the other heirs of the Erwin Olaf estate, she was a founding member of the Foundation Erwin Olaf. She has been a long-standing supporter of Amsterdam’s queer community.