House of FAKA: Possibilities of Queer Visibility
In 2015, copywriter Buyani Duma (aka Desire Marea) joined photographer Thato Ramais (aka Fela Gucci) to form FAKA, a collaboration which started out as a performance art duo but has now transformed into a “cultural movement.” (http://www.siyakaka.com/) Their manifesto is Siyakaka, a word which, according to Desire, means “We don’t owe anybody an apology. We will do what we want. Nobody will police our bodies.” Their goal is to use art to normalize Black queer visibility and thereby push culture forward.
In a presentation titled “Siyakaka: A Healing Manifesto,” Desire Marea situates FAKA as a “counter institution that is meant to shelter everybody who’s alienated by mainstream culture.” Marea goes on to say that “if we really wanted to make an impactful change on South African society at large, we would have to start by influencing culture.” (12:22) The importance of shifting culture is echoed by Xavier Livermon (2012) who argues that “Black queers create freedom through forms of what I term cultural labor.” (p. 300)
“We’ve found a very meaningful way to use that gift…to emancipate everybody who is perpetually broken by this dominant culture that only supports heterotopia” (15:34)
Since their debut in 2015, the duo has performed internationally at various music festivals, released two EP’s, and recently made an appearance at the Versace spring/summer 2019 menswear collection fashion show which featured their latest EP, “Amaqhawe” as the soundtrack. In addition to music, FAKA utilize live performance, literature, photography, and video as mediums to “express their ideas about themes central to their experience as black queer bodies navigating the cis-hetero-topia of post-colonial Africa.”
The recurrent theme throughout their art, is the deliberate destabilization of heteronormative expressions of freedom. Like the Kwaito artists who came before them, FAKA uses art to make space for their marginalized identities. However, unlike the work of their musical predecessors, a range of identities are welcomed and represented in FAKA’s artistic space. One of the most recent examples of this can be seen in their music video entitled “Queenie,” released in 2015. Through music, visuals, and personal anecdotes communicated via voice notes, the video offers an unapologetic celebration of Black queer life.
The first scene of the video begins as the camera gradually zooms out to reveal what appears to be an old bookshelf decorated with porcelain dishes and multiple framed photographs of FAKA captured at different points throughout their career. Framed pictures also hang on the wall adjacent to the shelves. The setting mirrors the inside of a Black family’s living room — only in this case, pictures of a narrowly defined nuclear family are replaced with the visibly queer duo. This image is contrasted by the accompanying voice notes that overlay the beat as various queer people share how they came out to their families — an often intimidating and/or traumatic experience. Within the first 10 seconds, the video conveys the complex relationships that queer people share with their biological families. Because of this, it is common for Black queer people to find community among one another in the formation of a new family of sorts.
This can be seen in Black and Latinx ballroom culture as houses are established not only to participate in drag competitions but also to support Black and Latinx queer youth who have been turned away from their biological families. In a study on the role of ballroom culture in constructing familial ties for the Black and Latinx queer community, Emily Arnold and Marlon Bailey observe that “houses within the ballroom community constitute figurative, and sometimes literal, “homes” for the diverse range of members involved in them.” (Arnold & Bailey, 2009, p. 174)The houses facilitate a new family structure that embraces and celebrates the range of Black and Latinx queer experiences.
The video for “Queenie” draws on many elements of ballroom culture from the dress to the movement to the representation of Black queer kinship. In one scene, Desire and Fela appear identically dressed in elaborate white gowns paired with baggy leather pants. They’ve turned a school auditorium into their stage as they pose, vogue, and strut through the room. At the same time, a voice can be heard over the beat saying, “And I never really was given the luxury of discovering my sexuality I think at the age of three, I was told that I was gay.” (0:25) This is the reality for many Black queer people who aren’t given the opportunity to decide who they are and how they want to express themselves.
“As the voice note implies, so many of us did not have the luxury of naming ourselves (or evading narrow categorisation)” (Maneo Mohale, 2018)
However, through their fierce, feminine, and visibly queer performance in “Queenie”, FAKA creates a world where Black queer people are able to name their own experiences and freely discover their sexuality on their own terms. This is further demonstrated in the next few scenes where FAKA is joined by various South African queer creatives and activists including producer Angel-Ho, DJ K-$, and content creator/activist Glow Mami. One sequence shows the group gathered around a dining room table inside the same house from the opening scene. A voice note plays over the beat — “But after I came out at the end of grade 10, I just started taking shit from no one.” This newfound freedom and confidence expressed in the voice note is captured throughout the scene.
Fela Gucci represents the house mother as he sits at the head of the dinner table wearing a gray mink hat, bold yellow and green earrings, along with a red dress and matching red gloves. The rest of the friends and family are also glamorously dressed, as they drink wine, eat food, take selfies, and dance to their heart’s desire. The beat grows in intensity as the celebration moves from the living room to the club. Filmed inside of Zer021 Social club, this lively party scene serves as a continued expression of Black and Brown queer joy. As the video comes to an end, multiple queer couples are shown sharing a kiss.
The video takes viewers through FAKA’s world where Black queer people are validated, cared for, and given the freedom to be their full selves. The voice notes scattered throughout the video serve as a reminder that such a world often doesn’t exist outside of this video. The costs of being Black and visibly queer are high — whether physical violence, social isolation, or economic disenfranchisement. However, in the midst of all this there is also joy. Similar to the ways in which Kwaito musicians of the past reimagined new ways of existing outside of the shortcomings of reality, so too does FAKA in “Queenie”. In their disruption of heteronormativity, FAKA uses the video platform to capture an expression of freedom that is inclusive of all identities.
