STAR!BANI?

STAR!BANI? (2022–ongoing) is a photographic series exploring the complex duality of Black

queer life in South Africa. Set within the township, a space historically shaped by segregation

and survival, the work reflects on what it means to exist queerly in environments where

community can be both a source of belonging and danger.

The title comes from the Zulu word stabane, a term used as a slur for queer and

gender-nonconforming people. In reshaping it as STAR!BANI?, the artist resists its violence and

turns it into a question of becoming: Who are you? Who am I? The word becomes a mirror,

reflecting both the pain and the possibility of naming oneself.

In South Africa, queerness exists within an ongoing paradox. The Constitution is one of the

most progressive in the world, yet queer people continue to face systemic violence, exclusion,

and erasure - especially in township and rural contexts. The work moves through this

contradiction, observing how queer individuals navigate space, safety, and belonging while

carrying the weight of historical and social prejudice.

STAR!BANI? is an internal dialogue about identity. An interrogation of the fragmented

experience of being - the ongoing negotiation of masculinity, intimacy, femininity, and freedom in

a world that insists on binaries. It sits with what it means to exist quietly, to hold softness where

hardness is expected, and to be seen without needing to explain.