Speaker: Carl
Function: Founder
Bedrijf: 75 SHOTS Pocket Cinema

Over de spreker
Carl Collison (he/they), is a journalist, photographer, filmmaker and researcher, who focuses specifically on producing LGBTIQ-related content from across Africa. A former researcher with Human Rights Watch, Collison is the founder of the non-profit media publication and production company, Beyond the Margins. He is also the co-founder of the Purple Mountain Arts Residency, which provides a safe space for queer African creatives, artists and activists.Collison was the Other Foundation’s Rainbow Fellow at the Mail & Guardian. In 2017, as a result of his queer-focussed journalism, he represented South Africa as a participant in the U.S Government States Department’s International Visitors Leadership Programme. He was shortlisted for the 2018 Gerald Kraak Award and Anthology. He was also included in the inaugural #Awesome50 list, which recognises the work done by people across Africa to better the lives of the continent’s LGBTIQ people. Short stories he has written have been included in the collection of essays, They Called Me Queer and For The Love of the Land.Documentary films (and photographic exhibitions) he has put together have been screened in film festivals and events in Argentina, Kenya, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Mozambique, U.S.A, and the United Kingdom.In April 2023, he held his first solo international exhibition (featuring photography, text and documentary films looking into queer lives across Africa) at the Western Oregon University.In August 2023, the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice’s annual “Economies of Violence” public event centred around Collison and his multimedia exhibition, Islanded (No More), which he had been putting together over the past few years covering the lived experiences of LGBTIQ+ people across Africa. The exhibition focused on the intersections between queerness and religious and traditional belief systems in various parts of Africa.