Through the Lens of Activism: Zanele Muholi in 5 Photographs

A visual activist working primarily in photography, Zanele Muholi’s (they/them) oeuvre is a powerful testament to the lives, struggles, and triumphs of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTIQA+) individuals in South Africa and beyond. Their work transcends mere documentation, evolving into a poignant act of self-assertion, collective memory, and a defiant embrace of identity in the face of prejudice.

Much like a contemporary Diane Arbus, Muholi works with portraits that investigate not just the subject’s appearance, but their very identity, their story and how it reflects on their persona. Portraying stories and memories rather than people and faces, Muholi offers an archive that is fundamental to acknowledging, investigating, and ultimately supporting the LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa and beyond.

A Life Dedicated to Visibility

Born in 1972 in Umlazi, a township near Durban, South Africa, Zanele Muholi’s early experiences in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa as a queer individual deeply influenced their commitment to social justice.

After initially working as a hairdresser, Muholi first approached photography studying at the Association for Visual Arts in Cape Town and later participating in the Market Photo Workshop—a photo training course established by the celebrated South African photographer David Goldblatt in Johannesburg for young students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2009, they earned their Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, with a thesis focused on the visual history of Black lesbian identity and politics in post-apartheid South Africa.

Muholi began gaining international recognition in the early 2000s. Their first solo exhibition, Visual Sexuality: Only Half the Picture, at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2004, featured photographs of survivors of rape and hate crimes. Shortly after, Muholi gained prominence for series like Faces and Phases (2006), which features portraits of lesbian and transgender individuals. More recently, they have explored self-portraiture in series such as Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness, delving into themes of race, identity, and the politics of representation. Muholi’s work has been exhibited widely, including at the Venice Biennale (2019), Tate Modern in London (2020/2021), the Maison européenne de la photographie in Paris (2023), and Mudec-Museo delle Culture in Milan (2023).

Art, Activism, and Education

Muholi describes themselves as a “visual activist” rather than simply a photographer. From the beginning of their career, Muholi has been driven by a single mission, to advocate for and represent the Black queer and transgender community of South Africa. This mission is rooted in the stark reality that LGBTIQA+ individuals in the country, despite constitutional protections, often face discrimination, violence, and a lack of visible representation in mainstream media and historical narratives. Muholi’s work actively challenges this erasure, providing a platform for voices that have historically been silenced.

Together with their artistic practice, Zanele Muholi has actively combined art and activism through various initiatives. In 2002, they co-founded the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW), a Black lesbian organization offering a safe space for women to gather and organize. In 2009, Muholi established Inkanyiso (meaning “illuminate” in Zulu) a non-profit platform promoting queer visual activism and media advocacy with the motto “Produce. Educate. Disseminate.”

In 2018, they collaborated with Lindeka Qampi and the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center to launch the Women’s Mobile Museum, mentoring a group of women artists in Philadelphia through intensive professional training, culminating in a group exhibition.

In 2021, Muholi extended their activism into education with a coloring book version of their exhibition Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness, targeting South African youth. Accompanied by photography and painting workshops in underserved areas, the project aimed to provide access to art education and infrastructure, reflecting Muholi’s personal commitment to supporting marginalized communities.

Here are five works that powerfully encapsulate Zanele Muholi’s artistic vision and impact:

1. Busi Sigasa, Braamfontein, Johannesburg (From the Faces and Phases Series), 2006

Since 2006, Muholi has been working on the Faces and Phases project. The first portrait in the series captures activist and Muholi’s friend Busi Sigasa, a survivor of corrective rape who contracted HIV from the attack.

The series recalls 18th-century Western botany imagery, where newly-discovered plants were shown in neutral settings, plucked from their natural environment, erasing any context and their long-lasting existence. The artist likens this lack of context to the way the Black queer indiduals are usually portrayed. With Faces and Phases, Muholi aims to challenge the sterile representation of people, providing names, dates, and locations, and representing each member of the LGBTIQA+ community and their stories.

2. Miss D’vine III (From the Faces and Phases Series), 2007

This iconic portrait features Miss D’vine, a Black drag performer and activist. The sitter, dressed in glamorous makeup and attire, stares directly into the camera. The photo is powerful not only for its aesthetics but also for what it represents: self-determination, dignity, and resistance against erasure. The portrait is another part of the Faces and Phases series, an ever-expanding archive of Black lesbian, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals in South Africa, documenting lives that history often overlooks.

3. Somizy Sincwala, Parktown (From the Brave Beauties Series), 2014

As a visual activist, Muholi’s photographs radically challenge the conventional perception of lesbian and transgender communities in South Africa, creating strong and positive images of empowered individuals. Begun in 2014, Brave Beauties is a series of portraits depicting trans women in South Africa, and as such represents an overt challenge to a culture that continues to violently discriminate against their community. Facing the viewers with an unapologetic presence, the series promotes pride and freedom in defiance of unspoken and oppressive societal norms.

4. Bester I, Mayotte, 2015 (From the Somnyama Ngonyama Series)

In 2014, Muholi began working on the Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail The Dark Lioness series, encompassing 365 self-portraits of the artist. The works are alter egos of the artist, often with Zulu names. Muholi explained that their focus for this series was specifically the face, as the bearer of the first acts of violence that victims endure.

This striking self-portrait showcases Muholi’s masterful use of light and shadow, creating a dramatic and regal image. Adorned with kitchen scourers and clothes pegs, Muholi transforms ordinary objects into symbols of adornment and defiance, challenging conventional notions of beauty and power while referencing their mother’s work as a domestic worker.

5. Ntozakhe II, Parktown, 2016 (From the Somnyama Ngonyama Series)

The title of the series, Somnyama Ngonyama, translates from Zulu to “Hail the Dark Lioness,” stressing the importance of Blackness for this project. In the series, Zanele Muholi uses overexposure and contrast to darken their skin tone, resulting in high-contrast portraits where their features and the props they use create striking visuals. By turning the lens on themselves, Muholi further emphasizes the personal nature of their artistic and activist endeavours while also deconstructing stereotypical portrayals of Black identity.

In this self-portrait, Zanele Muholi is depicted adorned in rubber and materials typically used in domestic labour. With their gaze fixed squarely on the viewer, the image reclaims agency and critiques the historical objectification of Black bodies.