Mikael Owunna
Nigerian-Swedish, b. 1990
Wiilo—Queer Somali (Pronouns: they), Limit(less)
2015
Photograph
Mikael Owunna’s Collection
“Wiilo in Somali means girls who dress like boys. It’s a nickname that I was given by my elders when I was younger. It’s something that has always comforted me when I was going through my process of discovering my queerness and helped me to overcome the shame and the feeling of being pushed away from my culture,” (Wiilo).
Despite the alienation, Wiilo openly shares their decision to defy gender identities. Their queerness is a part of their identity, not a trait they hide. Owunna captures this pride and emphasizes Wiilo’s choice to pose as the opposite gender by juxtaposing a colorful and femininely patterned backdrop with Wiilo’s decision to dress like a boy.
Crossing gender boundaries creates tensions within a community. Resisting societally constructed gender norms—the assumption that individuals identify with their biological gender—can distinguish individuals from their culture. Wiilo does not allow these distinctions to define them.
Amanda Banasiak ’20
Bibliography
Chin, Matthew. “Feelings, Safe Space, and LGBTQ of Color Community Arts Organizing.” Journal of Community Practice. Jul-Dec 2017. pp. 391-407.
There are only a number of spaces where individuals of the LGBTQ community feel safe against oppression. The creation of art and art spaces acts as physical walls which protect these individuals to express their true selves.
Donnella, Leah. “Picturing Queer Africans in The Diaspora.” National Public Radio. May 12, 2017.
Mikael Owunna experienced alienation and “otherness” from his community when he came out to his family; his parents sent him to Nigeria to reconnect with his roots as they believed his sexuality was a result of America’s culture. Owunna’s photographs pushes back against the belief that being queer and being African are at odds.
Frost, Stuart. “Exploring and Interpreting LGBTQ Histories.” Interpretation Journal, 22. Summer 2017. pp. 7-8.
LGBTQ histories and experiences have traditionally been overlooked or underrepresented by museums and galleries. This show aims writes narratives of these experiences through art.
Jama, Aisha. “Photos: LGBTQ Africans express identity in ‘Limit(less)’ Ways.” PBS News Hour. Aug 28, 2015.
Limit(less) is a documentary photographic project which illuminates the lives of first and second-generation LGBTQ Africans. The series illustrates the “limitless” ways that LGBTQ Africans navigate their lives in a society that views their multiple identities as mutually exclusive.
Igor, Efeoghene. “Rethinking the Egalitarian Potential of Post Apartheid South Africa: Zanele Muholi’s Intervention.” Radical History Review, 126. Oct 2016. pp. 181-193.
Queer and lesbian Africans are targets of sexual violence and disrespect in Africa; they are victims of rape and sexual abuse. Zanele Muholi’s, through her series of “Faces and Places,” gives these victims the authority to speak against the disrespect they experience.
Irish, Anni. “Mapplethrope Legaxy Endures at Guggenheim.” Modern Painters, 37. Apr 2019. 122-123.
U.S. photographer Robert Mapplethrope (1946-1989) is an emblematic figure within the art world and the LGBTQ community as he photographs experiences being LGBTQ. His advocacy in depicting these individuals parallels Muholi, Gyamfi and Owunna’s work illustrating the lives of the LGBTQ community in Africa and the diasporas.
Roberts, Kamaria. “How one photographer is challenging the myth that being LGBTQ is ‘un-African’.” PBS News Hour. Jun 9, 2017.
It is an African myth that being queer is a direct result of overexposure to Western culture and that it is against African culture to be queer, despite the multiple individuals who have identified as queer in Africa’s culture. Mikael Owunna’s documentary photography project aims to eliminate these narratives and reveal that being queer and being African are not mutually exclusive.
Schjedahl, Peter. “Safe Space.” New Yorker. Oct 9, 2017. Pp. 78-79.
This articles reviews the LGBTQ art exhibit “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon,” which was held at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. It adds to the narrative of LGBTQ artists representing themselves through safe spaces in the art world.