Research Centre, Visual Identities in Art and Design

We are delighted to welcome Dr Nina Barnett as a post-doctoral research fellow for 2026/2027 in VIAD's Bioart + Design Africa research programme at UJ.

Barnett is a Johannesburg-based artist and researcher. Her creative practice uses drawings, immersive installations and experimental filmmaking to engage with questions of geography, infrastructure, materiality, and experiential knowledge. She has recently completed a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Johannesburg, with a project titled 'The Intra-Active Vaal Dam: Imagining Water Beyond the Hydrocolonial'.

Barnett’s artistic research regarding water and water systems has recently centred on the re-imagining of Johannesburg’s municipal water beyond the utility, with a focus on the Vaal Dam (the anthropogenic water body that supports the landlocked city) . The cycle of water extraction, purification, pollution and expulsion offers a problematic example of a water as a commodified resource in an era of climate crisis. Barnett’s work brings attention to the materialities of this system and offers alternative ways to know this water through installation, drawing and papermaking.

Photographs by Mitch Said and Jude Kapeluschnik.

RADICAL | OTHERS and QUEERING THE GA(Y)ZE THANKS THE PERFORMERS!!

The Nkoli Experiment
Who traced the impressions of Simon Nkoli’s activism and love letters to celebrate q***r lives as lived. An ode to survival.

Albert Ibokwe Khoza
For taking a journey through his history of performance – exploring how he encourages critical thought and healing. A digital archive.

The Beloved Collective
Experimenting through internal conflict, to share the paradox of living as those who remain pressed upon. A provocation toward non-binary thinking within q***r communities.

Image credits to Andiswa Mkosi & Takalani Mafumo

Q***r Ancestry was documented by Takalani Mafumo
Q***r Economies and Q***r Digital Intimacies was documented by Andiswa Mkosi

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Q***ring the Ga(y)ze closed an inspired dialogue programme, this past Saturday. We began the humble work of dismantling fear around thinking through economic lenses and building toward creating new pathways for relating to this aspect of freedom for q***r people. The cartography of q***r economies was critically explored from the interconnected perspectives of law, feminist and q***r thought, economic social science, media and art with radical Black imagination.

With a venue at capacity, Radical | Others and its association with PAP studios in partnership with the British Council, the Bag Factory and the Other Foundation extend our gratitude to everyone in attendance.

We look forward to continuing the journey of mapping and making q***r cartographies of freedom together!


All images by Andiswa Mkosi

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This past Saturday, we co-hosted Q***ring the Ga(y)ze again to chart our Q***r Cartographies theme through Digital Intimacies. The sphere of the intimate was shared from surprising angles by both the contributors and guests of the event.

Kim M. Reynolds streamed in from Cape Town to deliver a Keynote that asked us to reconsider which imaginaries we nourish; challenging us to not simply become experts of “lack and violence” but to also connect with our imagination and augment our understandings of these.
This challenged reached to the heart of discussions across the day. Our panellists Akani Shimange and Anthony Oluoch brought a detailed African viewpoint on the uses of digital technologies in movement and organising work. Pointing out the perils of giving information into technological portals became a key reflection. We connect to one another across borders through technology, we can offer assistance with some immediacy, but we are also made visible by technology and visibility exposes us to harm.

Tshegofatso Senne created a thought-provoking workshop by exploring B**M and consent in relation to digital connections. Koketso Moeti
reminded us of the values of being human in these spaces. Finally, Albert ‘Ibokwe’ Khoza, tied the theme of digital intimacies together with the prior session on ancestral q***rness. He sang and reflected on his use of digital projection with an embodied, spiritual and provocative focus; closing of our day.

We look forward to sharing the final dialogue day this coming Saturday, at Jozi Gold Breweries.

Please see link in bio to join the day.
All images by Andiswa Mkosi

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VIAD Saturdays are currently dedicated to Q***ring the Ga(y)ze. The call is toward q***r communion. This past Saturday, VIAD’s Radical | Others communed with PAP Studios, the British Council, and a stunning intergenerational audience for Ancestral Q***rness.

We worked through notions of ancestral q***rness in a truly sacred experience of conversation and co-learning. The day began with listening. Not looking. Listening to an introductory reflection on integration by the Reverend Elder Nokuthula Dhladhla. As we sat listening to the audio recording, the space was grounded by silent thought. Rooted by tender reflection rather than the usual performance of expert knowledge, the individual was able to warm themselves to the collective effort. Dhladhla mused about the continuing labour of integrating seemingly contradictory spirits: God and ancestry, through the being of q***r living. After the Reverend Elder’s opening, we sat with Buhlebendalo Mda and Albert "Ibokwe" Khoza. As artists and sangomas, they brought us into their warm friendship as though we were in a WhatsApp group, sharing memories and stories and questions and challenges just as much as sharing wisdom and personal truths.
By the time we went to breakaway workshops with House of Ditsie crafting journeys of personal affirmation to one side & Makhosazana Xaba provoking us to find our bloodline to find poetry on the other, it was a tender occasion of co-feeling what the day’s memory project was doing amongst us. The Nkoli Experiment closed the day, and band leader of the Simon Nkoli sonic invocation, Mawethu Nkosana, sang in repetition, "This is for our survival!"

Writing as Radical | Other's research coordinator, I, Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga, felt myself at home rather than host, relishing the opportunity to sit listening rather than asking questions.

Image Credits: Takalani Mafumo

To join the next sitting, please RSVP: https://zaf01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpapstudios.info%2F%3Futm_source%3Dig%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_content%3Dlink_in_bio%26fbclid%3DPAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnOvoS9eE_2hIStFpKIZG9Oa3HX57rleS9Z6dO64OCqEsEIQM8qaP8cJYdSpQ_aem_daKRh_7uTEWAstL0of2HvA&data=05%7C02%7Cjmulombo%40uj.ac.za%7C01c0a8cadb4a489f444c08de72d64dfb%7Cfa785acd36ef41bc8a9489841327e045%7C0%7C0%7C639074462104618231%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=mL14vDlet58unROlAZGSUYFltq6H02KlUG79QZd5EIo%3D&reserved=0

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VIAD’s Radical | Others research stream, is more than pleased to announce our partnership with Q***ring the Ga(y)ze 2026, Q***r Cartographies. This significant new relationship connects with R|O’s emphasis on q***r arts, cultures and communities’ as worldbuilding spaces. R|O joins the Q***ring the Ga(y)ze team to act as programme partner.
In this, we promise to bring our empowered, erotic sensibility to this intersectional, feminist and radically futurist programme, and to do so in decidedly q***r ways.

Please do join us in mapping and questioning q***r African ancestries, digital intimacies and economies from the south.

Q***ring the Ga(y)ze 2026 is themed Q***r Cartographies and begins on the following dates:
Saturday, 21 February: Q***r Ancestries
Saturday, 28 February: Digital Intimacies
Saturday, 07 March: Q***r Economies

See link here for RSVP details: https://zaf01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpapstudios.info%2F%3Futm_source%3Dig%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_content%3Dlink_in_bio%26fbclid%3DPAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnOvoS9eE_2hIStFpKIZG9Oa3HX57rleS9Z6dO64OCqEsEIQM8qaP8cJYdSpQ_aem_daKRh_7uTEWAstL0of2HvA&data=05%7C02%7Cjmulombo%40uj.ac.za%7C3a42c8ed5da340410dd508de6d5624f9%7Cfa785acd36ef41bc8a9489841327e045%7C0%7C0%7C639068413974570362%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=XdLcuJEM9GG9p8ngVgop7gaD2W5tRHnBOylsCAl0M5Y%3D&reserved=0

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Thank you to Art Africa Magazine for the thoughtful and generous feature on our Re:fuse-ability exhibition, FADA Gallery, Johannesburg, 2025. The insightful interview questions allowed us to reflect deeply on the exhibition’s themes, to offer nuanced readings of curatorial and artistic practices, and to situate the project within broader conversations around materiality, waste, value, and responsibility. It’s encouraging to see the exhibition’s critical intentions reflected with such care, and to have the work contextualised within contemporary artistic and socio-ecological debates on the African continent. Thank you to Brendon and Suzette Bell-Roberts and Stephan Rheeder for the attention, insight, and platform, and for helping extend the conversation beyond the gallery space.

Read the full issue here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_28KEhzjBWA5zmpKGSNun16boluLWOfX/view