Conversation: Zanele Muholi and Binyavanga Wainaina

South African visual activist Zanele Muholi and Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina discuss the current state of arts, literature, education, and LGBTI rights across Africa. Sharing a dedication to supporting homegrown artistic talent, these two progressive leaders offer perspectives from their respective homes and their global travels.

Wainwaina’s many accomplishments include winning the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing, being named by Time magazine as one of the most influential people in the world, and founding and editing the literary magazine Kwani?, which publishes and distributes contemporary African writing.

Muholi has won numerous awards, including the Ryerson Alumni Achievement Award (2015); the Fine Prize for an emerging artist at the 2013 Carnegie International; and the Index on Censorship – Freedom of Expression art award (2013). Muholi’s art makes visible the black lesbian and transgender communities in South Africa, and she is the founder of the queer-focused, queer-run media network Inkanyiso. Her work is currently on view in Zanele Muholi: Isibonelo/Evidence in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

The conversation is moderated by Alexis Okeowo, a staff writer for The New Yorker, who is writing a book about ordinary people standing up to extremism in Africa, to be published by Hachette.

This event took place at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art on October 22, 2015. Video courtesy Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation.

www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/video/