Provenance

Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, 2017.

Private Collection.

Notes

Another example from the edition can be found in the Zeitz MOCAA collection.

The career of Zanele Muholi, one of South Africa’s most recognisable and celebrated artists, has unfolded in two distinct phases. After graduating from Johannesburg’s Market Photo Workshop in 2003, Muholi first gained local recognition for activist documentary photography depicting Black LGBTQIA+ subjects. In 2006, they launched Faces and Phases, an on-going photo series composed entirely of portraits of Black lesbians, gender-non conforming individuals and trans men. The project catapulted Muholi to international prominence, particularly after its inclusion in DOCUMENTA 13, the prestigious contemporary art exhibition held every five years in Kassel, Germany. That same year, while on a residency in Italy, Muholi initiated their self-portrait series Somnyama Ngonyama (“Hail the Dark Lioness” in Zulu).

This on-going series, of which this work is an important early example, has further cemented Muholi’s extraordinary international visibility. Characterised by a spirit of improvisation and play, the portraits are created spontaneously, with Muholi styling themselves using whatever materials are readily available. A range of influences prompted the series, but at its core the work addresses contemporary racism and the persistent stigmatisation of Blackness. “Anything Black is always positioned as wild, animalistic, uncontrollable,” Muholi has said, explaining their decision to heighten dark tonalities in post-production.¹ Though deeply personal, the series carries an activist intent: “I wanted to use my own face so that people will always remember just how important our Black faces are when confronted by them.”²

¹ Renée Mussai (2018) Aperture, ‘Zanele Muholi On Resistance’, online, https://aperture.org/editorial/muholi-interview/, accessed 3 March 2025.

² Ibid.