%C2%A9 Zanele Muholi
Archival pigment printexpand_more
Gift of James Ambersonexpand_more 2019.133
Zanele Muholi largely draws inspiration from local South African black queer communities, including the artist themself and their friends. Muholi’s work is informed by a long history of oppressive colonization, which lays the structural foundation of how we imagine blackness, the female body, queer sexuality, and representation today. Muholi’s work is also informed by contemporary South African politics, a system that constitutionally protects the rights of queer people, but often fails to defend them from targeted violence.
For the past few years, Muholi has largely turned the camera around on themself, practicing self-documentation in the form of portraiture and performance. This work finds the artist using self-portraiture as a tool of intimacy, serving as commentary on contemporary political and cultural issues that affect Black people in Africa and its diaspora.
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© Zanele Muholi