Project Report: co-produced exhibition on migration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa

Migration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa: Co-produced exhibition captures experiences of LGBTIQ migrants and asylum seekers in Johannesburg and migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in South Africa

In 2016 the Migration and Health southern Africa project (maHp), from the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University, South Africa, supported an exhibition and publication launch at the South African Workers Museum in Newtown in Johannesburg. Through a series of unique research and public engagement projects, maHp aims to generate and communicate knowledge in order to improve responses to migration, health and wellbeing in the southern African region. 

The exhibition showcased visual and narrative research conducted in 2014 and 2015 as part of ACMS's MoVE (Method.Visual.Explore) project. The research focuses on the development of visual and other involved methodologies to study the lived experiences of migrants in southern Africa. The approach aims to integrate social action with research, and involves collaboration with migrant participants, existing social movements, qualified facilitators and trainers, and research students engaged in participatory research methods.

A series of posters explaining the theoretical and academic underpinning of MoVE projects can be found here.

The works exhibited were produced by LGBTIQ migrants and asylum seekers in Johannesburg, and migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in South Africa. These works are the result of three seperate projects which are described in more detail below: Queer Crossings, Sex Worker Zine project and Izwi Lethu: Our Voice.

A fifteen minute radio show captures the feel of the exhibition.

Queer Crossings

ACMS, Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) and Seattle University's Creative Writing Program partnered up to conduct an arts-based workshop using both visual arts and narrative writing to explore the lived experiences of LGBTIQ migrants and refugees living in Gauteng, Johannesburg. Queer Crossings captures their stories through visual art, poetry and short non-fiction pieces in an exhibition, exhibition booklet and full publication.

Caption: This publication captures the stories of LGBTIQ migrants and refugees living in Gauteng, Johannesburg through visual art, poetry and short non-fiction pieces.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sex Worker Zine Project

Some of the work exhibited was from the Sex Worker Zine Project which was produced by 24 men, women and transgender participants who live and sell sex in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa. The project involved collaboration with the Sisonke Sex Worker Movement and the MoVE Project.

The zines feature a diverse and complex range of issues. While some of the zines focus on trajectories into sex work, many focus on other socially relevant and pressing lived experiences, such as, infrastructure needs in rural communities, migration histories, cultural traditions, family relationships and the call for the decriminalisation of sex work.

In a social-political context such as South Africa where sex work is criminalised and heteronormative pressures of conformity prevail, these zines offer an important intervention to counter the incomplete—and often inaccurate—representations of migrant men, women and transgender persons engaged in the selling of sex.

All of the materials produced through the project can be viewed and downloaded here and a booklet with more information on the project is also available. 

Caption: Summary booklet of the Sex Worker Zine Project.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Izwi Lethu: Our Voice

This project, about a Gauteng based newsletter by sex workers for sex workers, culminated in an exhibition and an exhibition booklet.

Caption: Summary booklet of the Izwi Lethu: Our Voice project.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.