Zanele Muholi. Picture: Instagram.
South African artist Zanele Muholi is launching the second edition of their award-winning book “Somnyama Ngonyama”.
In “Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, Volume II,” Muholi explore new personas and poetic interpretations of personhood, queerness, blackness, and the possibilities of self.
The publication of the second series of the book comes after the first volume, launched in 2018 and won the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Award as the best photography book.
As the series continues, Muholi photographs themselves as a muse who boldly explores their image and innate possibilities as a Black individual in today's global society, and most importantly, responses to contemporary and historical racism.
Muholi also features other muses to document the history of black lesbians and transgender individuals and has widely exhibited the series worldwide at major museums and galleries including Tate Modern in London.
“This is not about me, this show is not about Zanele Muholi. This show is about the people who come from somewhere who belong to South African communities, South African society who are living their truth.
“These people live and breathe in South African soil and everybody featured here needed to be respected, recognised, and deserve a chance to be heard,” they said.
“The queer self is beyond just what meets the eye of the viewer. We have intimate parts that need not be violated simply because people don’t understand.”
To highlight the intimate parts, Muholi made a genitalia sculpture.
"So I present in this room Ncinda, which is my being and this room is about being and it’s quite an intimate piece that I’ve never seen in any queer exhibition before but it’s brought to the fourth.
Published by Aperture, “Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, Volume Il” is 172 pages and available in English.
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