Carl is an internationally respected journalist, photographer, and filmmaker. A former researcher with Human Rights Watch, Carl worked reports centred around LGBTIQ+ migrants and asylum seekers in South Africa as well as the impacts of Uganda’s most recent Anti-Homosexuality Bill. His groundbreaking work and passion for marginalised communities, gave rise to his founding and establishing the online publication, Beyond The Margins, which produces free-to-publish content highlighting the lived experiences of LGBTIQ+ Africans.
His documentary films have been screened across the globe.
In 2023, he held his first solo international exhibition at Western Oreg University, USA. Titled Islanded (No More), the exhibition is made up of short documentary films, photographs and text. Islanded (No More) – as well as Collison’s broader work as a queer filmmaker – was the focus of the 2023 “Economies of Violence” talk, hosted by the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, based at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
Carl has twice been nominated in the Best Human Interest category of South Africa’s national MDDA/Sanlam Local Media Awards and was shortlisted for the 2018 Gerald Kraak Award and Anthology.
He was included in the inaugural #Awesome50 list, which recognises the work done by people across Africa to better the lives of the continent’s LGBTIQ+ people.