'That Ugandan flaming homosexual': Film screening and discussion

In 2023, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed into law the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. In Uganda you may now receive life imprisonment or the death penalty for consensual adult same-sex relations, and 20 years imprisonment for the promotion or encouragement of the normalisation of homosexuality.

Ugandan photographer DeLovie Kwagala responded with a very personal film exploring their childhood growing up in Uganda, navigating their own sexuality and identity amidst rising homophobia. The film offers images of beauty, family, community and resilience to protest the cruelty and injustice of this legislation. Revisiting their childhood home, family members, past and present fears, DeLovie depicts a dreamscape of what Uganda has become and what it could be. As they explain, “the film tells a story about my constant becoming, rooted in my traumatic experience of growing up ‘different’ but never knowing what ‘different’ meant.”

After the screening De will share some of their photography and discuss their work with King’s academic Dr Zoë Norridge and former King’s MA student Aparajita Ray Chaudhuri.

This event is hosted by the Global Cultures Institute in collaboration with Queer@King's as part of Africa Week. Learn more about Africa Week 2024, organised by the African Leadership Centre at King's.

Note: This event is in person only.

About the speakers

DeLovie Kwagala

DeLovie (Papa De) is the first openly non-binary queer photographer from Uganda. Their images and social activism offer intimate reflections on identity, belonging, social injustice and gender-sexuality. Their photographs have been published in The Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Vogue, Zam Magazine, and more. In 2021 they won the East African Photography Award and were named one of ten Black women photographers to watch by PH Museum. Their ongoing Through the Cracks project examines Intimate Partner Violence within the LGBTIQ community, aggravated by the pandemic, through tender, reflective portraits. Their work campaigning against the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act (2023) has been featured in The Guardian. You can support these campaigns by donating to the Uganda LGBTQ Emergency Fund.

Dr Zoe Norridge

Zoe is a Reader in African and Comparative Literature and Visual Cultures at King’s College London. She researches contemporary arts in Rwanda and cultural responses to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Her work often involves collaborations with artists and survivors. She has convened multiple photography workshops in Rwanda, curated the exhibition Rwanda in Photographs with Mark Sealy MBE, and programmed events for Jacques Nkinzingabo’s Kigali Photo Fest, where she met DeLovie Kwagala. Zoe is also a translator, writer and Associate Editor at Wasafiri magazine of contemporary writing. She has made two radio documentaries for the BBC about her work with Rwandan artists.

Aparajita Ray Chaudhuri

Aparajita Ray Chaudhuri is a writer and a graduate of King's College London. They studied Contemporary Culture, Literature and Theory during their MA, where they wrote a thesis about queer and urban spacial and social theory in post-colonial cities