Yass! Brother Uche has come to slay the market and he is not leaving without receipts.
Historically, several African cultures saw androgyny – the blurring of the lines between the sexes – as a norm.
In the book Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands which studies sexuality in pre-colonial Africa, Stephen O Murray and Will Roscoe wrote that reports of androgyny existed in the Dogon of Mali and the Zulu in South Africa. It also existed among the Hansi men in Ngambo, Tanzania to the Iteso people of Kenya and Uganda, and even the Hausa people in Nigeria, the book said.
This culture was wiped away during the colonial era.
Millenials, though, are exploring the continent’s rich history, and photographer Lex Ash, in collaboration with Uche Uba, has taken on androgyny with references from ancient Malian and South African tribes.
What they give us are stunning photos challenging gender as it is in modern-day Africa.
Check out some of them