The Last Look
Sabelo Mlangeni
About the SessionHair Matters: A Selection of Works from the Georgina Jaffee Collection is a tightly focused, thematic auction that initiates a critical dialogue on the profound significance of hair in contemporary artistic practice. Featuring a cohort of accomplished contemporary artists, primarily those working from the African continent or within the global African diaspora, this selection of works is guided by a singular conceptual mandate: every work turns to hair as a powerful nexus, serving as medium, metaphor, or focal point of exploration.
Hair Matters illuminates the diverse interpretations and artistic vocabularies through which hair shapes identity, memory, and meaning across cultures, nations, and histories. Featuring artists such as Léonce Raphaël Agbodjélou (Benin), Ifeoma U. Anyaeji (Nigeria), Sethembile Msezane (South Africa), and Hank Willis Thomas (United States), the auction examines the aesthetics, politics, and sociology of hair, with particular emphasis on African perspectives and the connective threads that link the continent and its global diasporas.
Curatorial Voices: Natasha Becker, Jared Leite, Vida Madighi-Oghu and Sihle Motsa.
About this Item
from an edition of 7
Provenance
blank projects, Cape Town.
The Georgina Jaffee Hair Matters Collection.
Exhibited
blank projects, Cape Town, The Royal House of Allure, 2 January to 7 March 2020, another example from the edition exhibited.
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, A Different Now is Close Enough to Exhale on You, 23 November 2022 to 14 January 2023, another example from the edition exhibited.
Literature
Sabelo Mlangeni and blank projects (no date) Extra Extra, Johannesburg: Sabelo Mlangeni, online, accessed 5 November 2025, another example from the edition illustrated.
Notes
Selected by Curatorial Voice: Natasha Becker.
Sabelo Mlangeni’s powerful Royal House of Allure series emerged almost by accident. The artist initially travelled to Lagos with the intention of photographing LGBTQ+ social media influencers who had attained local celebrity status; however, upon arrival, his messages went unanswered.
Turning instead to Facebook, Mlangeni discovered the profiles of dancers James Brown, Tonnex, and Ruby. When these attempts also yielded no response, he reached out to their friend Oluwa, who was persuaded to engage after viewing images from Mlangeni’s Country Girls (2003-2009) series. Oluwa explained that “every move that the LGBTQ+ community makes in Nigeria is calculated,” a statement that clarified why Mlangeni’s earlier messages had been met with silence. Following this exchange, Mlangeni was invited into the House of Allure, a sober safehouse for queer Nigerians that offers refuge from the country’s hostile legal and social attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community.
Inside the House of Allure, Mlangeni encountered a space defined by openness, care, and solidarity, where residents were able to express themselves freely, away from the daily threats faced beyond its walls. Due to the risks involved, many of his subjects were presented under aliases to protect their identities in the public sphere.
Not all residents were immediately willing to be photographed, fearing persecution should their identities be revealed. James Brown, for instance, asked Mlangeni, “If my country kicked me out because I collaborated with you, would your country give me a safe place to hide?”¹ The residents included performers, designers, makeup artists, and dancers, and the resulting portraits capture both spontaneous, creative interactions and carefully composed images. These are interspersed with quieter scenes of communal life, such as conversations and the intimate act of doing one another’s hair. In the present lot, Mlangeni depicts ‘Ruby’ having her hair done by another member of the safehouse – a tender image that speaks to shared trust, community, and self-expression within the House of Allure. Hair in The Last Look (lot 36) and Ruby's Hair (lot 37) functions to obscure the faces of the subjects, anonymising their identities in the context of violence.
1. Emily Dinsdale (2020), Dazed, “Sabelo Mlangeni’s moving photos of life inside a Nigerian queer safe house,” online, accessed 22 January 2026.
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