Curatorial Voices: Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa

Live Virtual Auction, 28 February 2023

Curatorial Voices: Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa
About the Session

Curatorial Voices: Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa is a dynamic collaborative project conceived by Strauss & Co to address the need for diversified representation of artists from across the African continent in the secondary market. Curated by Strauss & Co Heads of Sale, Kirsty Colledge and Kate Fellens, with input by seven international art experts with embedded knowledge of Africa; Serge Tiroche, Valerie Kabov, Heba Elkayal, Danda Jaroljmek, Anne Kariuki, Dana Endundo Ferreira, Kimberley Cunningham. Curatorial Voices presents collectors with a broad selection of work by leading contemporary artists alongside select pieces by important historical artists.


Sold for

ZAR 293 125
Lot 35
  • Zanele Muholi; Isililo XX
  • Zanele Muholi; Isililo XX
  • Zanele Muholi; Isililo XX


Lot Estimate
ZAR 50 000 - 70 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 293 125

About this Item

South African 1972-
Isililo XX

edition 37/100

inkjet print on cotton fibre-based paper, Baryta coated
image size: 48 by 48cm; sheet size: 50,5 by 50cm; 66,5 by 66,5 by 4cm including frame

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.
 

Provenance

Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town. 

Property of Collectors.

Exhibited

Another example from the edition is in the Zeitz MOCAA collection.

View all Zanele Muholi lots for sale in this auction