Show on African homosexuality shut down after fundamentalist attack

Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Senegal exhibition, part of the Dak’Art Biennale, closed due to pressure from extremist Islamic groups.

By: Anny Shaw

The Senegalese government has shut down one of the first exhibitions in Africa to focus on homosexuality on the continent. The move comes several weeks after an attack on the Dakar gallery by Muslim fundamentalists, says the French-Algerian artist Kader Attia. “Precarious Imaging: Visibility and Media Surrounding African Queerness” opened at Raw Material Company on 11 May, but a day later, the non-profit art centre was vandalised and the building damaged, according to Attia, whose video about the lives of transsexuals in Algiers and Mumbai was included in the show. No one was hurt in the attack.

Dakart-Biennale on freeDimensional

Show on African homosexuality shut down after fundamentalist attack

Senegal exhibition, part of the Dak’Art Biennale, closed due to pressure from extremist Islamic groups.