Julia Gunther’s latest exhibition, Rainbow Girls, featuring portraits of South African lesbian women, will be opening this weekend.
Regularly featured photographer Julia Gunther’s Rainbow Girls exhibition will be opening in Amsterdam this weekend. Rainbow Girls is a photographic documentary series about lesbian women living in South African townships. In Julia’s own words:
“Although the Constitutional and legal system in South Africa theoretically ensures equality, social acceptance is generally lacking and women, especially lesbian women, continue to be perceived as a threat towards traditional male authority. Crimes based on sexual orientation are not expressly recognized in South Africa and corrective rape, a particularly shocking form of ‘sexual punishment’ is not classified by the South African legal system as a hate crime.
“Undeterred by the daily threats of violence, constant intimidation and at the risk of being cast out by their own families, the lesbian women of Gugulethu and Khayelitsha township continue to be proud of who they are and of the love they represent.”
Rainbow Girls is the third installment of Julia Gunther’s ongoing project Proud Women of Africa, a photographic record of women who live or work in Africa. For more information about the exhibition, view the flyer at the end of the post.
Here’s a selection of the portraits that will be on display:
Photographs shared with permission.
