Sabelo Mlangeni's First Italian Solo Show at ADA Project

At ADA Project in Rome, South African photographer Sabelo Mlangeni presents 'I have stopped time. A Family Portrait,' his first solo exhibition in Italy. The show features intimate black-and-white and color analog photographs documenting a marginalized queer community in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Mlangeni undertook a prolonged residency in 2017. His practice, built on trust and extended presence over weeks or months, captures everyday moments of affection and suspension. Curated by Francesca de' Medici, the exhibition's title reflects a spiritual, almost devotional approach to photography, emphasizing the slow, material process of analog film. The gallery layout uses serial and angular arrangements to reconstruct the intimacy of a community that marginalizes itself to escape cultural taboos and persecution. Mlangeni's work, spanning over two decades, includes earlier series like 'Country Girls' on queer life in rural Mpumalanga and has been shown internationally, including at MoMA in New York in 2025. The exhibition positions photography as a tool for sharing time and affirming existence as a form of resistance.