Artists, researchers, and cultural practitioners are invited to help build a living archive of queer, trans*, and gender-diverse histories rooted in African and diasporic contexts
A new digital archive is inviting contributors to participate in a long-term project dedicated to documenting queer, trans*, non-binary, feminist, and alternative gender histories across Africa and its diaspora. The Digital Queer Archive in Africa and the Diaspora seeks to challenge the persistent myth that queerness is foreign to the continent, instead foregrounding its deep historical, cultural, and social roots.
Bringing together objects, images, texts, and testimonies, the archive connects contemporary LGBTQI+ lives with longer genealogies of African gender diversity. It also resists the imposition of Western frameworks of queerness, prioritising critical, situated, and decolonial approaches to knowledge production.
Who can contribute
The open call welcomes cultural practitioners, artists, researchers, activists, heritage communities, organisations, and museum professionals. Contributions may focus on historical or museum objects and their queer dimensions, or on contemporary materials connected to queer life in Africa and the diaspora. Suggested themes include remembrance, community, queer ancestry, visibility, healing, spirituality, healthcare, body politics, and social inequality.
Applicants may be based anywhere and are encouraged to reflect on their positionality and the limits of their knowledge when engaging with specific histories or communities.
Formats and support
Contributions may take the form of short essays, object analyses, artistic responses, interviews, or multimodal works combining text, audio, and visual material. The curatorial team will support contributors throughout the process, offering guidance as submissions are developed into completed archive entries. All submissions are currently accepted in English. Selected contributors will receive a one-time honorarium of €600.
Key dates
- Application deadline: 19 February 2026
- Submission of final contributions: September 2026
- Archive launch: December 2026
How to apply
Applications should include:
- A short outline (150–300 words)
- A brief bio (50–100 words)
- Optional sample material
Submissions and enquiries can be sent to: [email protected]
The project is led by Thsidy Kamogelo Ngoma (Gaborone), Nneoma Angela Okorie (Lagos), Noam Gramlich (Berlin), and Isabel Bredenbröker (Berlin/Bremen), with institutional support from partners across Africa and Europe.
