Zanele Muholi

Zanele Muholi is a South African visual activist, photographer,  humanitarian, and archivist. 

For two decades, they have documented Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people’s lives in various townships in South Africa. Responding to the continuing discrimination and violence faced by the LGBTQI+ community, in 2006 Muholi embarked on an ongoing project, Faces and Phases, in which they depict Black lesbian and transgender individuals, aiming to contribute towards a more democratic and representative South African queer history and offset the stigma and negativity attached to queer identity in African society.

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 South Africa 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 themself. Experimenting with different characters and archetypes, Muholi’s self-portraits reclaim their Blackness and offset the culturally dominant images of Black women in the media today.

Muholi was born in Umlazi, Durban, and lives in Cape Town. They studied Advanced Photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg, and in 2009 completed an MFA: Documentary Media at Ryerson University, Toronto. Muholi has won numerous awards, including the ICP Infinity Award for Documentary and Photojournalism (2016), Africa'Sout! Courage and Creativity Award (2016), the Outstanding International Alumni Award from Ryerson University (2016), the Fine Prize for an emerging artist at the 2013 Carnegie International, and a Prince Claus Award (2013), among others. Muholi’s work has been exhibited at Documenta 13, the South African Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, and the 29th São Paulo Biennale, and in institutions worldwide.


Zanele Muholi on Social Media:
Instagram: @muholizanele