The archive
What survives can still act.
Selected material from the Simon Nkoli Collection at GALA Queer Archive, alongside a new archive of work made by exhibition participants.
Curated archival selection
The Township AIDS Project in the Simon Nkoli Collection.
The Township AIDS Project (TAP) was founded in 1989 at the Ipelegeng Community Centre in Soweto. Led by Enea Motaung, it combined safer-sex education with counselling and testing, support, home care and volunteer training at a time when silence and stigma shaped the public response to HIV/AIDS.
Simon Nkoli ran TAP’s Gay People’s Health Forum. Its members took part in Johannesburg’s first Pride march in 1990 and spoke plainly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. TAP closed in 2006, and much of its surviving record is held in GALA’s Simon Nkoli Collection. That collection grounds Acts of Care and its invitation to connect memory with action.
All historical items shown on this page are from the Simon Nkoli Collection at GALA Queer Archive. This deliberately limited selection offers context for Acts of Care; it is not a reproduction of the full collection.
Simon Nkoli Collection · Courtesy of GALA Queer Archive
Simon Nkoli Collection · Courtesy of GALA Queer Archive
Simon Nkoli Collection · Courtesy of GALA Queer Archive
Simon Nkoli Collection · Courtesy of GALA Queer Archive
About GALA
An archive grounded in social justice.
The GALA Queer Archive (GALA) serves as a catalyst for the production, preservation and dissemination of information about the history, culture and contemporary experiences of LGBTQIA+ people in South Africa. As an archive founded on principles of social justice and human rights, GALA works toward a greater awareness about the lives of LGBTQIA+ people as a means to an inclusive society.
Archive of Interaction
Return after 08 September to see what participants make.
Selected posters and other contributions created through the exhibition’s participatory stations will be added throughout the exhibition, before the project archive is deposited with GALA.