Zanele Muholi (1972 – )

Zanele Muholi is a South African artist and visual activist; she works in photography, video, and installation. For over a decade she has documented the lives of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex in various townships in South Africa. Responding to the continuing discrimination and violence faced by the LGBTI community, in 2006 Muholi embarked on an ongoing project, Faces, and Phases, in which they depict black lesbian and transgender individuals. Muholi’s self-proclaimed mission is "to re-write a black queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the world to know of our resistance and existence at the height of hate crimes in SA and beyond." In a more recent ongoing series, Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness), Muholi becomes both the participant and the image-maker, as they turn the camera on themselves. Experimenting with different characters and archetypes, Muholi’s self-portraits reference specific events in South Africa’s political history. Through exaggerating the darkness of her skin tone, Muholi reclaims their blackness and offsets the culturally dominant images of black women in the media today.

They look directly into you with their beautifully almond-shaped eyes and interact with you. They seem to have something to say to you, but they remained silent. Silence is a source of great strength. Hollow pattern bag - the symbol of the hand-woven technique combined with the leather material, flows along their shoulder. The photograph brings a peaceful acceptance of the past. Yet their body is leaning slightly forward to the camera, to the viewer, suggesting the possibility of movement, a gesture that heralds changes. In Cebo, Philadelphia, Muholi turns the camera on themselves, showing their fiery self, suppressed roar, and the power gushing out, in silence but vividly alive. You look into their soul and see and feel the firm belief in themselves and their cause.

Cebo, Philadelphia, 2018

Gelatin Silver Print Edition of 5 30 x 23 ¾ in. (76.2 x 60.3 cm)