Robert Hamblin (1969) is an artist, father and a gender activist. His artwork is concerned with issues of masculinity and transgender activism. A narrative that he continues to explore is that of the complexities around sex-work in South Africa, in particular trans/femme sex-work. Since 2011, he has been producing series of photographic works and advocacy tools with Leigh Davids, trans sex work activist of The Sistaaz Hood support group at sex work rights organisation SWEAT.

His commitment to these subjects was invoked in a time when he transitioned from female to male and was a founder member of trans rights organisation Gender DynamiX. He soon left organisational work, frustrated with its processes, and opted to rather do outreach to trans-sex-work communities as a volunteer and continue his fine artwork.

Hamblin’s conceptually driven and painterly approach to his photographic works contribute to debates around body politics in a post-apartheid era. The sound installation, Talk on the Yellow Line is named so because outdoor sex-workers operate in those spaces. The edited recorded voices detail intimate interviews with artist Robert Hamblin, members of The Sistaaz Hood and Diamond Town Girls support groups. According to the artist some of the answers that came out of these interviews dealt with children being bullied during their teenage years, running away from home and ending up in the underworld of drugs, crime and sex work. Hamblin indicates that a recurring theme was the endless abuse of power by the police. According to the artist: “During the work in Cape Town with The Sistaaz Hood, I found a close ally in one of the founders of both groups – Leigh Davids. Davids, a trans sex worker herself and a growing leader in the global sex work movement moved to Kimberley and here we embarked on a project together that investigates the experiences of transgender women who do sex work in a rural setting”, like Kimberley.