DeLovie Kwagala (aka Papa De) is the first openly non-binary queer photographer from Uganda. An award-winning visual artist and film maker, their art is a defiant stance against the colonial gaze, aiming to dismantle stereotypes around beauty, gender identity, and the fetishization or victimization of Black and queer bodies. Through self-taught, multi-disciplinary visual storytelling, Kwagala documents and archives African queer youth, exploring themes of identity, belonging, migration, displacement, and climate justice. 

Their mission is to preserve dignity, reclaim marginalized African queer histories, and provoke questioning of patriarchal and colonial narratives. Projects like The Quingdom ~ In Transition and Love(r)ships celebrate queer joy, intimacy, and resistance, asserting that „to be visibly queer is a political statement in itself.“ Kwagala’s work, featured in TIME, The Guardian, and Vogue, strives to evoke relatability and inspire unlearning, ensuring their community is seen not as victims, but as glorious outliers: resilient, beautiful, and unapologetically present. Kwagala’s film That Ugandan Flaming Homosexual was shown during the festival Black Berlin Black – United Polyphonic (2023) as part of the film series Black Eyes On Black Bodies at Ballhaus Naunynstraße. For the film and video format Kiez Monatsschau of akademie der autodidakten, Kwagala mentored the young participants of the 30^th edition Raising Hope (2026).