ArtBall 2019 – an annual fundraiser for Amref Health Africa in the USA – will honor South African visual activist Zanele Muholi with the Rees Visionary Award.
Named after its late founder, surgeon and artist Dr. Tom Rees, the Rees Visionary Award is given to artists who are creating exceptional work that educates, inspires, and emboldens the viewer through these challenging times. Muholi’s work, which addresses issues of human rights, especially that of the LGBTQI+ community, is vital and powerful. Zanele Muholi is a living icon of activism and social justice. Through evocative black and white photography and documentary films, they provide a politically and culturally charged critique of our society in relation to the Black body and more specifically, the bodies of LGBTQI+ people of color, especially in South Africa where individuals are being murdered for their identity and sexuality.

Zanele Muholi explores black lesbian, gay and transgender identities and politics in contemporary South Africa; 25 years after apartheid, documenting the change and lack of change over the course of more than two decades. For the series “Faces and Phases” (2006-present), Muholi photographed more than 500 portraits of South Africa’s lesbian community.

“The portraits are at once a visual statement and an archive,” Muholi has said, “marking, mapping, and preserving an often invisible community for posterity.” Muholi’s sensitive portraits challenge the stigma surrounding gays and lesbians in South Africa, debunk the common rhetoric that homosexuality is un-African, and address the preponderance of hate crimes against homosexuals in their native country. Among other subjects, Muholi has captured the survivors of “corrective rape”.

In April 2012, thieves broke into Muholi’s Cape Town apartment and stole over 20 hard drives holding years of photographic documentation, suggesting the continued controversy and sensitivity surrounding the issues that Muholi’s works confront. Yet, Muholi persists. The opposition they encounter only serves to fuel their drive to document the lives of those individuals who have been oppressed, marginalized, and brutalized, crafting an immense body of work to serve as a personal and communal archive of lived lives. Muholi is relentless in their pursuit of opportunities to expand the narrative albeit through residencies or new photographic series.

With “Somnyama Ngonyama”, which is isiZulu for Hail the Dark Lioness, Muholi turns the camera on themselves, illustrating their place and perspective on the documentation of their own existence. Curated by Renee Mussai of Autograph London, this series of self portraits have inspired and engaged an intersectional audience. In the internationally acclaimed exhibition featuring more than 70 photographs, Muholi uses their body as a canvas to confront the politics of race and representation in the visual archive. Muholi’s psychologically charged portraits are unapologetic in their directness as they explore different archetypes, personal and collective histories, contemporary politics, and global events.

Somnyama Ngonyama employs the conventions of classical painting, fashion photography, and the familiar tropes of ethnographic imagery to critically rearticulate contemporary identity politics. By increasing the contrast in the dark complexion of their skin, Muholi interrogates complex representations of beauty, pride, and desire. Gazing defiantly at the camera, Muholi challenges the viewer’s perceptions while firmly asserting their cultural identity on their own terms. When the exhibition debuted at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, it produced myriad programming and community outreach including poetry commissions and dance performances using Muholi’s work as inspirational guidance and gestalt. Visitors were visibly moved by the works hung on black, grey, and white walls – seeing themselves and their ancestors in the contemporary imagery of historical oppressions and future liberation.

 

Portraiture and self-portraiture illuminates identity. AMREF’s acknowledgement of Muholi’s tireless efforts for an international acceptance and importance of the Black body that is inclusive of the LGBTQI+ community is a catalyst for support and awareness of continuing photography projects such as Brave Beauties as well as endeavors in film. Their arresting work is a contribution towards a more democratic and representative South African black visual history. Through this positive imagery, Muholi hopes to offset the stigma and negativity attached to queer identity in African society.

For details on ArtBall 2019 benefiting Amref USA, visit https://www.amrefusa.org/usa/en/how-you-can-help/events/artball-2019/

theo tyson| fashion + art

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2018 Nov. 29: Zanele Muholi Awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the Royal Photographic Society Awards 2018

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2017 Nov. 22: Zanele Muholi receives Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres

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2016 June 4: Muholi honored with Courage and Creativity award

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2016 Feb. 7: Second Infinity award for South Africa

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2013 Nov. 4: From Market Photo Workshop to Bremen University

 

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2013 Aug. 31: Black Lesbian Visual Activist wins Mbokodo award

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South African artist wins in the US