Zanele Muholi; South African 1972-; Isililo XX
Provenance : Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town. Property of Collectors.
Exhibited : Another example from the edition is in the Zeitz MOCAA collection.
Literature :
Notes : 'My practice as a visual activist looks at black resistance - existence as well as insistence. Most of the work I have done over the years focuses exclusively on black LGBTQIA and gender-nonconforming individuals making sure we exist in the visual archive … Too often we find ourselves in spaces where we cannot declare our entire being. We are here; we have our own voices; we have our own lives. We can't rely on others to represent us adequately, or allow them to deny our existence. Hence I am producing this photographic document to encourage individuals in my community to be brave enough to occupy spaces - brave enough to create without fear of being vilified, brave enough to take on that visual text, those visual narratives. To teach people about our history, to rethink what history is all about, to reclaim it for ourselves - to encourage people to use artistic tools such as cameras as weapons to fight back.'1 1. Renée Mussai. (2018) 'Archive of the Self: Renée Mussai in conversation with Zanele Muholi', in Leslie Martin. (ed.) Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, New York: Aperture. Pages 176 and 177.Zanele Muholi was born in Durban, later moving to Johannesburg and forming an integral part in the photographic representation of the South African LGBTQ community. Muholi is a visual activist, humanitarian, and photographer. They studied at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg and obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in documentary media from Ryerson University in Canada with a thesis on the visual history of black lesbian identity and politics in post-apartheid South Africa. As a photographer and activist, they founded two forums directed at empowering women and supporting queer artistic activism. Muholi has exhibited across South Africa and abroad, including the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); the Brooklyn Museum (2015), New York City, NY, USA; documenta 13 (2021) in Kassel, Germany; Tate Modern (2020 - 21), London, United Kingdom; and Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa.
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