THE ROYAL HOUSE OF ALLURE | SABELO MLANGENI

Royal House of Allure (RHOA) is the name of a shelter in Lagos, Nigeria, that provides refuge for LGBTQ individuals who are discriminated against primarily due to their sexual orientation or health reasons. Sabelo Mlangeni dedicates a photography series to community guests, embracing an immersive practice, directly experiencing the situations that are the focus of his research and investigation.

The portrait format is used classically, with a perfect, almost studio-like composition, made possible precisely due to the closeness, intimacy, and trust that Mlangeni establishes with his subjects.
There are no signs or traces of violence, no physical pain depicted; the veil that Mlangeni casts over conditions of hardship and suffering is not to obscure or abstract but to narrate. The necessary distance to understand, indeed with empathy, yet also directing the gaze to the surrounding context of prejudice, hostility, and the daily struggle many people face to assert their rights and overcome marginalization.

A yellow paint, a red lipstick. Color alone is enough to transform the game, to overturn the ‘stain’ imprinted and imposed by a dominant culture that perpetuates abuse and violence. Mlangeni’s condemnation is not shouted, there are no screams; rather, there is serenity, love, joy, a quest to live, to find, to achieve as individuals, despite everything.

Sabelo Mlangeni’s series The Royal House of Allure is currently exhibited at the Venice Biennale, on the occasion of the 60th International Art Exhibition titled “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere.”

Sabelo Mlangeni
Olalere’s body painting shoot (make up artist Thom Smith and Daniel), dalla serie The Royal House of Allure, 2019
Digital ultrachrome archival print, 50 × 60 cm
60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere”
Photo by Marco Zorzanello, Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

30/10/24