Last year while working on a documentary film project in Accra, I met a very interesting middle-aged woman named Naa who I discovered is a Priestess and the leader of a group of middle-aged queer Ghanaian women. While we conversed, Naa talked about being in a “spiritual marriage” with a woman. This piqued my interest. I further learned she has been a constant pillar of support to the queer community in her neighborhood for quite a number of years.
This is how I found out about their support group/community; a space of care, support, survival, and safety. Many of these women were born, came of age and discovered their sexualities in a world that offered them no language for their identities. They live, love, navigate survival while building chosen families in the shadows. These women have lived through decades of discrimination without safety, or support having to hide parts of themselves for years.
This project is about acknowledging their presence and memory. With queer stories in Ghana largely undocumented, especially those of older/middle-aged women who practice traditional religion, this photo documentary emerges as a different perspective to reclaiming space and history. It seeks to preserve their untold stories while contributing to queer liberation and intergenerational visibility.
This is a photographic archive and storytelling project centered on the lives of middle-aged (elderly) queer women in Ghana. The women will be photographed in the comfort of their homes, in ways that truly reflect who they are and how they wish to be seen.
