01/07/2016. A self-portrait of photographer, Zanele Muholi taken while travelling in South Africa, America and Europe exhibited at the Standard Bank Gallery in Grahamstown. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi 01/07/2016. A self-portrait of photographer, Zanele Muholi taken while travelling in South Africa, America and Europe exhibited at the Standard Bank Gallery in Grahamstown. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi
PHOTOGRAPHER and visual activist Zanele Muholi’s powerful portraits demand attention. Each image is beautifully styled and tells a story that requires the viewer to question and to understand the message behind each photograph.
Her exhibition titled Somnyama Ngonyama(meaning: Hail, the Dark Lioness) is currently on display at the Standard Bank Gallery in Grahamstown, as part of the annual Grahamstown National Festival(NAF).
The series of work featuring black and white self-portraits confronts the politics of race and pigment.
It also includes photographs from her ongoing essay titled Brave Beauties, which celebrates and raises awareness about hate crimes against the lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.
The Durban born Muholi launched her visual activism with her first solo exhibition titled Visual Sexuality: Only Half the Picture at the Johannesburg Gallery in 2004.
She has since exhibited in and around South Africa as well as in Vienna, Milan, London and Amsterdam.
Muholi has also won a number of awards including the ICP Infinity Award for Documentary and Photojournalism (2016) and Africa’Sout! Courage and Creativity Award this year.
As co-founder of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW), a safe space for women, she raises awareness about the realities ofcorrective rape and HIV/AIDS.
Her book titled Faces and Phases features a series of black and white portraits by commemorating and celebrating South African black lesbian lives.
l This year’s Grahamstown National Arts Festival will run until July 10. See www.nation alartsfestival.co.za for more information and to view more of the programme online. Facebook: www.facebook.com/nationalartsfestival Twitter: @artsfes tival Instagram: @nationalarts festival