Why Zanele Muholi rejects the title of artist to become a visual activist
In short: In South Africa, where the Black LGBTQIA+ community has faced systemic erasure and targeted violence, one photographer uses the lens as a weapon of resistance. Zanele Muholi does not just capture images; they document a history of survival, turning everyday objects into powerful symbols of identity and defiance.
Born in 1972 in Umlazi, Zanele Muholi came of age during the height of apartheid, a system of racial segregation and economic discrimination in South Africa. While the 1996 constitution became a global pioneer by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, the social reality remained fraught. The LGBTQIA+ community continued to face severe violence, including the pervasive hate crime known as 'correct and corrective rape.'
Muholi’s practice is defined by 'visual activism.' Rather than seeking purely aesthetic ends, they use photography to rewrite a Black queer and trans visual history. Their early work, such as the 2003–2006 series 'Only Half the Picture,' focused on intimate, anonymous fragments of the body—like a hairy chest or a scarred thigh—to challenge social taboos. This evolved into the massive 'Faces and Phases' project, which by the 2020s included approximately 300 portraits documenting the diverse expressions and gestures of South African Black queer individuals.
In their self-portrait series, 'Somnyama Ngonyama' (Hail the Dark Lioness), Muholi subverts colonial ethnographic tropes. By using post-production to saturate their skin color and adorning themselves with mundane items like vacuum hoses, chopsticks, or clothespinds, they challenge how Black bodies are scrutinized. Some of these pieces, such as those featuring scrubbing sponges, serve as a poignant tribute to their mother, Bester, a domestic worker. Through this work, Muholi moves the Black body from the periphery to the center of South Africa’s political and artistic discourse.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Zanele Muholi | Biography, Artwork, Photography, Self-Portrait, Faces and Phases, Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, & Facts | Britannica
- Also: Zanele Muholi
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