Lecture and Book Signing: “Limitless Africans” by Mikael Owunna

‘Limitless Africans‘ is a narrative photobook to be published in September 2019 by FotoEvidence documenting the narratives of over 30 LGBTQ African immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in 10 countries across North America and Europe. Published in the New York Times and captured by queer Nigerian-Swedish American photographer and Fulbright scholar, Mikael Owunna, the work provides an integrated look at precolonial African sexuality and contemporary queer African narratives to debunk the myth that it is ‘un-African’ to be gay. Join us at the Griffin as Owunna shares a lecture on precolonial African sexuality as part of the book launch.

Mikael Chukwuma Owunna (b. 1990) is an award-winning queer Nigerian-Swedish artist and photographer, born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and with degrees in Biomedical Engineering and History (Duke University ’12). His work centers around identity while bending the medium with his engineering and multidisciplinary background.

Mikael is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship (Taiwan – 2012) and his projects: I am Atayal!, Limit(less) and Infinite Essence – have collectively exhibited across Asia, Europe and North America and been featured in media ranging from the New York Times, PBS, NPR, Al-Jazeera Plus, BuzzFeed and Teen Vogue to the official outlet of Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture. He was selected for the 2018 New York Times Portfolio Review, Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 200, the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward Awards and Review Santa Fe for his series Limit(less) and Infinite Essence. He has spoken and lectured about his work widely from Harvard Law School to the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Reims) and Swedish Public Radio. His work imagines new universes and realities for marginalized communities around the globe. For more information: www.mikaelowunna.com; IG: @mikaelowunna.