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"The only difference between Apartheid and now, is that blacks are suppressing blacks," Gunther wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. The combination of injustice and bravery compelled Gunther to document these women and their remarkable stories.




"My name is Terra, and I was born in Cape Town on 21st April 1989. I got kicked out of the house when I was 16 years old because I'm a lesbian. Up until then, I lived a secret lesbian life and living a lie is very difficult; you have to come out and be yourself."

"There were two elements I wanted to capture through the 'Rainbow Girls' photographs," Gunther explained of her photography series. "The first: the strength and pride with which these women live, often under very difficult circumstances. And the second, after I had heard about the Miss Lesbian competition [an annual event organized by FreeGender, a black lesbian organization in Khayelitsha township, Cape Town, South Africa]. For me this was the perfect example of the kind of pride these women feel for who they are. Their unflinching defiance and their refusal to accept the repressive attitudes that dominate South Africa."


Miss Lesbian 2012 Inga

The Miss Lesbian pageant is run by Funeka Soldaat, a lesbian community activist and iconic figure within the LGBTI community of South Africa. Gunther met Soldaat first in 2012 and again in 2014, when she took her photograph. "Once I heard about the Miss Lesbian competition (mind you that was a day prior!) I knew I had to go to Khayelitsha and try to photograph it."


Funeka Soldaat

"Most of these girls are in their twenties," Gunther explained, "some still go to school, some work and some don't. The nine contestants were performing three different outfits during this beauty pageant -- school uniform, beach wear and cocktail night."

"The town hall was filled with a celebrating young crowd of people that all came together to vote for the Miss Lesbian 2012. Loud music, dancing and beautifully dressed people and a wide open door inviting the township to come in and celebrate with them. I was deeply impressed by this party and walked backstage to try and get in touch with the contestants. Standing in the middle of all the girls and announcing who I was and that I would like to take pictures of everybody if they let me to... If you stay genuine and honest and speak from the heart –- whoever you want to photograph will give in and help you to show the truth. After photographing the contestants at the beauty competition, I was able to arrange several meetings with different women in their homes, and in a women's shelter. The women also began to open up to me, telling me about their difficult lives."

Gunther photographs her subjects in bold colors and defiant glances, emphasizing their confidence and iconoclasm in the face of their still ignorant surroundings. "The Rainbow Girls" series is part of Gunther's larger "Proud Women of Africa" project, which was initiated in 2008. "All of the women in my pictures have suffered in some way," she told Feature Shoot. "They've been ostracized by society, are desperately poor, or have experienced terrible injustice. But they are also all still proud. Proud of who they are, of their lives and the love they represent."


Zelda

"My Name is Zelda and I am 28 years old, and I'm a lesbian woman. I'm having problems at home because of my sexual orientation. I've not been tolerated for my sexuality, and I have never been accepted to live my life freely, and I've been told to change if I want any support."

Despite the sad reality many of Gunther's subjects face, her colorful photos are imbued with hope for a better, more open-minded future. "I'd like to show that the attitudes towards gender and sexuality are slowly changing in South Africa. From generation to generation things will get better. What my Rainbow Girls are struggling with at the moment will be less of a fight two generations from now. Whereas twenty or thirty years ago, being gay was simply not accepted in South Africa, it has now become an issue of social groups. By being in a group that is more accepting and open minded you can live your life the way you want. Which is the case for the more urban and white populations in South Africa. But if, like the Rainbow Girls, you come from a poor and black community, being a lesbian can result in exile, rape, or death. So I think it's now more of a social cultural caste. But I do believe, slowly, things are changing for the better."

Images from Rainbow Girls are on view at GRID Cape Town Biennial at The Castle of Good Hope until March 15th. Feel the beauty and power of the subjects in the images below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

BUENOS AIRES, March 5 (Reuters) - Independent forensic tests show the Argentine state prosecutor found dead days after he accused President Cristina Fernandez of plotting to cover up Iran's alleged role in a 1994 bombing was murdered, the deceased prosecutor's ex-wife said on Thursday.

Argentine authorities have not released full results of the autopsy of Alberto Nisman, who was found in a pool of blood with a bullet to the head on Jan. 18. The few forensic details that have been made public so far by prosecutor's office have suggested suicide, though no official ruling has been made. (Reporting by Eliana Raszewski and Maximiliano Rizzi; Writing by Richard Lough)

Carl Djerassi, a Self-Defined Intellectual Polygamist


It has become difficult to imagine love-making without the Pill or surviving allergies without antihistamines--both the creations of Carl Djerassi.

Djerassi emigrated from Austria to America after Anschluss and passed away in early 2015, going down in history known for his invention of the oral contraceptive pill, along with other contributions in the fields different from his first love, chemistry. Reinventing himself from a chemist to writer, art collector, and philanthropist, he used these different occupations as opportunities to excel in arenas that are only seemingly dissimilar to chemistry with its logic and experimentation - but were, for him, united by a common denominator of his intellect, effortlessly ascending on a spiral of perfecting the world.

What were the drivers behind his serially self-redefined being? His book "From the Pill to the Pen" explains his life - ambitious, articulate, but narcissism-free. Defining himself as an "intellectual polygamist", Djerassi defended this metaphoric term saying that "serious polygamy" treats every woman as God-given wife--and this is exactly how he's treated all his intellectual pursuits/occupations--and achieved extraordinary results every time. That's what intellectual polygamists do.

Women Equals

I have nothing against the term "intellectual polygamist" except that it sounds sexist; additional amplification can correct it. Research for my upcoming book found quite a few women immigrants with creativity extending into multiple fields, either voluntarily, driven by curiosity and self-expression, or out of their need to adapt to a foreign land.

Olga Perry, a female centerpiece of immigrant creativity gone wild, is an excellent example of intellectual polygamy.

She's an internationally recognized artist with the high awards for sculpture, painting and photography. "I make art because I must," she said. "It's a need, an obsession, an addiction." Born in Russia, she's been through colorful career changes: an engineer, OB/GYN doctor holding a Ph.D., major of the Russian Army, and business owner. But these successes didn't satisfy her intellectual-emotional thirst as she felt fed up with Russian institutions controlling her free spirit. In her 40's, she jumped across the oceans and cultures, a single mom with her daughter, two suitcases and little English.
Life in the US changed with the speed of her language acquisition: from baby-sitter, department store cashier, waitress, telemarketer, corporate manager - to CFO of a renewable energy corporation, she's done it all. Then came the art. It became her new passion. After only a year of drawing and sculpting in art school she made it big time too, a star fulfilling her lifelong dream to be an artist.

Olga's art - reflecting the prowess of her brilliant intellect, logic of the scientist, distinctive vision, and global experience - shows us what the artistic fusion of Renaissance-like professional transitions, cultures, and philosophies can harvest. Art in various media, even parody cook-and-talk shows on her video channel, are all expressions of her talent. Creativity-wise, she equals Carl Djerassi himself!

Five Things We Learned

Here's my 5 cents worth on connecting the dots between our amazingly creative fellow-citizens and our own progress as individuals and society:

1. Creativity's integrated in immigrants' nature
Solid research on creativity explains why immigrants can see things through several filters, unlike those native-born. In addition to the business case for immigrant creativity I've made before, we need to remember that creativity may also be driven by powerful self-expression in unrelated fields (e.g., Athena Tacha, from Greece, is an outstanding landscape artist, sculptor, and author of conceptual/self-analytical studies of aging).

2. Contrary to popular belief that to be a success we need to stick to one profession, intellectual polygamists prove otherwise
There's more to creativity than cross-cultural vision - there's a phenomenon of cross-professional vision. It happens when people change professions/occupations (and immigrants often do so out of necessity): the previous know-how delivers an added perspective/vision, which can turn into a huge advantage. Simply put, their fresh vision removes "professional blinders," a limiting factor for innovating. Thus, Lana Kim has reinvented herself from a Macy's super-salesperson, to stockbroker, to PR firm director, to author/speaker and radio talk-show host; Anne-Sophie Gueguen rose from European Commission manager to French-American Academy founder; Paulina Porizkova evolved from supermodel and actress to author/blogger, Izabella Miko developed from ballerina and actress to movie producer, etc. They've been willing - or had to - reinvent selves. The result? Their wonderful creativity, like a magic wand, enriched every profession they applied it to.

3. Intellectual curiosity can lead to intellectual polygamy
A new orthodoxy, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, sees obsessive focus as the key to unlocking genius--and this is probably true. However, intellectual polygamists such as Carl Djerassi and Olga Perry could re-focus, get re-obsessed by new ideas/professions, and succeed in various fields. In general, immigrants are more likely to turn intellectual polygamists because many just need to do things entirely different from what they've done back home.

4. Immigrants contribute big-time to America's well-being and culture
A risk gene is part of all immigrants' DNA: it's brought them to America to unleash their potential--and they're fearlessly pioneering all things new. Paraphrasing Einstein, immigrants enter the society/organization/team where certain things have been deemed impossible - and their unawareness makes them search for solutions--and break new grounds! The names of Arianna Huffington, Indra Nooyi, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer speak for themselves.

5. America needs to sponsor creative immigrants officially
We hold it as universal truth that America, the great nation of former immigrants, can benefit from more new blood, the talent ready to help sustain its global competitiveness.

Learning is Progressing

As the worldwide migration accelerates year after year, the nations who open their golden doors to inventive immigrants will progress the most. We, the people, do want America to continue being No.1. Unfortunately, our Congressmen, in their supposed infinite wisdom, stay stuck in their stale bipartisan game, playing from the position of strength, and bargaining endlessly over the immigration reform. History will not forgive them. And the American people shouldn't either.