The performance of violence. #afrophobia2015

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Notes on contributors

Dean Hutton

DEAN HUTTON (b. 1976, ZA) is a genderqueer artist interested in portraiture as co-authorship; social media as narrative; technology as self-reflection and provocation. Dean is currently pursuing a Master’s of Art at the Institute for Creative Arts (University of Cape Town) on a Mellon fellowship. Their practice evolves around exploring ways in which to build a love revolution, from their personal work, to creating relationships and gathering collaborators to make our public and intimate spaces safer through artist-led creation, mentorship and community organising.

Dean has been working across photography, video, social media, performance and community action since the late 1990s. They were a Ruth First Fellow, one of the 200 Top Young South Africans, and awarded an Africa Centre AIR Award. Dean co-curated the #notgayasinhappy #QUEERasinfuckyou Film Festival in June 2015. They have worked extensively and collaboratively with art projects and artists locally and internationally.

In an 18-year career as a photojournalist in Johannesburg, Dean was chief photographer at the Mail & Guardian newspaper where their work won several awards, and contributed to major international agencies such as The Guardian, IME, Marie Claire, and BBC Focus on Africa. As a photojournalist their interest is directed towards an in-depth documentation of stories that may not necessarily seem newsworthy. Much of Dean’s work is concerned with social issues, and includes the rights of women, queers and the dispossessed. They set up 2point8, a photojournalism, video and design company, mentored young photographers throughout their career and participated as filmmaker in many international festivals, including the International Black Documentary Festival and the Out in Africa Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.