OPEN CALL - Visible Tones:

Active visualisations of blackness

1. Nomonde Mbusi, Berea, Johannesburg, 2. Reclaiming identity

1. Nomonde Mbusi, Berea, Johannesburg, 2. Reclaiming identity

To activate visual discourse around the themes in the The Evidence of Things Not Seen exhibition, artists, photographers and general public are invited to post portraits on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for Visible Tones: active visualisations of blackness. An ongoing curated stream of submissions is broadcast on screen in JAG during gallery hours, as well as a live stream on the Friends of JAG website, as part of The Evidence of Things Not Seen.

Visible Tones aims to encourage portraiture that celebrates agency and the social capital of the subject under the following curatorial themes:

  • The Portrait as social capital
  • The new black: fashion + portraiture + identity
  • Beyond the selfie: performing self + the internet gaze
  • Afrofuturism: the archive reimagined and remixed  
  • Reimagining African identities
  • Fallacies and phallacies: the portrait as gendered performance
  • Queer lens: black LGBTQI views
  • Inverting the canon: black gaze, white face

How to Submit:

Tag your Instagram, Twitter and Facebook photos with the following hashtags below #blackportrait #friendsofJAG along with your name.

Open call provisos:

  • Please only submit original content owned by yourself.
  • Remember, what you are uploading is in the public domain.
  • Do not upload content that is prohibited or illegal under South African law.
  • Photographs of work in any medium may be submitted.

Open call disclaimer:

  • Content submitted does not reflect the views of JAG, its associates, affiliates or sponsors.
  • JAG, its associates, affiliates or sponsors will not be held responsible for any libel or damages caused by submitted content.
  • Images submitted will be moderated and selected images streamed to Friends of JAG website and an electronic exhibition inside of JAG. No correspondence will be entered into regarding curatorial decisions.

Join the conversation:

Please follow JAG and its Friends on social media