Category Archives: Zanele Muholi

2014 July 26: “I was born this way and I cannot change the skin that I live in”

My name is Refilwe Pitso but am popularly known as ‘Fifi’. I was born and raised in Daveyton, Benoni in Johannesburg. I was born on the 27th of December 1991 and I was raised by my mother. She is a … Continue reading

Posted in 1991 -, 2nd Prince, Ackermans, Articles, Beauty, Black Lesbian, Black lesbian beauty, Black Queer & Gifted, Black Queer Born Frees, Characters, Claiming blackness, Claiming mainstream spaces, Community, Community Mobilizing, Community outreach, Competition, Contestants, Contests, Crea(c)tive senses, Creating awareness, Daveyton, Documentation; Filming; Photography; Community, Documenting realities of the townships, Edited, Family, Family support, Feelings, Female masculinity, Gender naming, Hobbies, Hope, Human Beings, I am not the only one, I can't do it ALONE, I use CANON, I was (T)here, Identity, Lack of Resources, Lack of sponsorship, Lesbian Youth, LGBTI community, Life, Living by example, Loved, Matric, Memories, Moments in herstory, Mr Valentine, Our lives in the picture, Owning our bodies, Pageant, Participants, Participation, Perception, Photo Expressions, Politics of existence, Portrait, Possessed, Power of the Arts, Power of the Voice, Previous life stories, Privilege, Proud lesbian, Proud to be, Queer Beauty Pageants in the townships, Queer Power, Queer visibility, Recognition, recognized, Records and histories, Refilwe in Faces and Phases series, Refilwe Pitso the winner, Safety, Sexuality, Sexuality in South Africa, Shop assistant, Single parent, South Africa, South African Artists, Team Dress Fresh, Textualizing Our Own Lives, Together we can, Togetherness, Tomboy, Visual history, Visual Language, Visual narratives, Visual Power, Visual sense, Visual Voices, We Are You, We Care, We Still Can with/out Resources, We were (t)here, Woman, Women loving women, Women's power, Women's Work, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures, Words, Writing is a Right, Young talent, Youth voices, Zanele Muholi | 5 Comments

2014 July 18: Women’s Day lecture at UFS

    Featuring the  portrait of Siphiwe Mbatha, August House, Johannesburg, 2012 © Zanele Muholi     Previous lectures   2014 June 17:  Muholi’s Ryerson University (RIC) talk   and   2014 April 29:  Muholi to speak at UC San … Continue reading

Posted in Activists Act, Announcement, Articles, Arts, Black lesbian visibility, Confrontation, Connections, Crea(c)tive senses, Creative activist, Details, Documentation; Filming; Photography; Community, Documenting realities of the townships, Education, Evidence, Experience, Exposure, Expression, Faces & Phases portraits, Facing You, Family, Feelings, Friendships, From Johannesburg to Free State, Gender, Gender naming, Johannesburg, Lesbian beauty contests, Lesbian Love Is Possible in South Africa, Moments in herstory, Our lives in the picture, Participants, Participation, Photographs, Photography, Photography as a therapy, Portrait, Power of the Arts, Power of the Voice, Privilege, Professional black lesbians in South Africa, Proud lesbian, Queer visibility, Queer Youth, Readings, recognized, Relationships, Respect & Recognition from our community, Respected person, Sexual orientation, Sharing knowledge, Siphiwe Mbatha, South African Black Female Photographers, Supporting each other, Textualizing Our Own Lives, Together we can, Townships, Visual activism, Visual Language, Visual narratives, Visual Power, Visual sense, Visual Voices, Visualizing public spaces, We Are You, We Care, We love photographs, We Love Photography, We Still Can with/out Resources, We were (t)here, When Love is a Human Right, Women's power, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures, Words, young women, Youth voices, Zanele Muholi | 12 Comments

2014 July 12: Being treated like a Queen in Durban

by Sfiso ‘Candice’ Nkosi It is Thurs. 26th June 2014, my friend, Precious Maqojana and I left for Durban Pride from Johannesburg Park Station at 22:00. We stopped in Montrose for some refreshments and a bathroom break. I was starting … Continue reading

Posted in 1987 -, 2013 Miss Simply Blue, 2014 Durban Pride, Acceptance, Act, Acting, Activism, Activists, Activists Act, Adoring, African, African Queer Beauty, Alternative family, Another Approach Is Possible, Archived memories, Archiving Queer Her/Histories in SA, Art Is A Human Right, Art is Queer, Artists, Arts, Attention, Beautiful faces, Beauty, Beauty queens, Before You, Being Scene, Black bodies, Black lesbian activism, Black Lesbian Artists, Black lesbian visibility, Blackness, Body, Brave, Characters, Communication strategies, Community, Community Mobilizing, Community work, Crea(c)tive senses, Creating awareness, Creative Writing, Culture of reading and writing, Details, Disappointment, Empowerment, Experience, Exposure, Expression, Feelings, Female Photographers, Friendships, From Tsakane to Durban, Gender, Gender naming, Grateful, Gratitude, Hobbies, Human Beings, I can't do it ALONE, I was (T)here, I-N-K-A-N-Y-I-S-O, Identity, Inkanyiso media, Inner feelings, Insulted, Interpretation, Issue of toilets for transwomen, Know Your SA Queer History, Knowledge, KwaZulu Natal, Memories, Modeling, Our lives in the picture, Participants, Participation, Photographs, Power of the Voice, Queens, Sbonelo Muholi, Society, Sponsored trip, Toilets, Transwomen, UkhoziFM, We Are You, We Care, We love photographs, We Love Photography, We Still Can with/out Resources, We were (t)here, Women's power, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures, Words, Writing is a Right, Young Black Women and Photography, Zanele Muholi | Leave a comment

2014 July 14: The French National Day in Paris

… also known as Bastille is celebrated by throughout every year on the 14th of July. Read more about this.             © Zanele Muholi 14/07/2014   … taken with Canon 6D and 200mm lens from the balcony … Continue reading

Posted in 2014 July 14, Bastille Day photos by Zanele Muholi, Education, Feelings, National Day in Paris, Paris, Photographs, Photography, Queer visibility, Visual activism, Visual Activist, Visual Arts, Visual democracy, Visual history, Visual Language, Visual narratives, Visual Power, Visual Voices, We Are You, We Care, We Love Photography, We Still Can with/out Resources, We were (t)here, Women's power, Women's Work, Zanele Muholi | 1 Comment

2014 July 13: ” Give children cameras not candies”

  School portraits from Aurora Girls High School, through the eyes of photography learners.     2014 April 16 our participants, Sindi and Nhlanhla playing with the background we used for students’ portraits.   a fellow student peeping out after … Continue reading

Posted in Aurora Girls High School, Beautiful faces, Education, Exhibition, Facilitators, Give children cameras not candies, Human rights, Intellectualism, Interpretation, Lesbian Professionals, Lesbian Youth, LGBT community, Linda Mankazana, Lindeka Qampi, Photo album, Photo assignments, Photo Expressions, photographers, Photographs, Photography, Photography as a therapy, Politics of existence, Politics of representation, Portrait, Power of the Arts, Power of the Voice, Public spaces, Publications, School portraits, Soweto, Teaching young women photography, Townships, Transcription, Transparency, Valerie Thomas, Visual Power, Visual Voices, Visualizing public spaces, We Love Photography, We were (t)here, Zanele Muholi, Zulu is a South African language | 11 Comments

2014 June 16 From Joburg to Sao Paulo to Toronto

Muholi’s Travel Log The past week in Toronto was a fantastic blur.  I arrived on Sunday, 15 June 2014 after five 5 years since my last stay there.  I went to Ryerson University and it is where I studied MFA: Documentary … Continue reading

Posted in Canadian dollars, Culture of reading and writing, English and French, Language, Recognition, Records and histories, Reflection, Respect & Recognition from our community, Sexuality, Sharing knowledge, South African Artists, Textualizing Our Own Lives, Women's power, Words, Writing is a Right, Zanele Muholi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

2014 June 10: The Ndlela’s are still committed to love

by Charmain Carrol On the 6th of June 2014, I had the pleasure of accompanying the Ndlela’s to Cape Town, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.  It seems like it was just last month when I attended their wedding in Durban … Continue reading

Posted in Archived memories, Archiving Queer Her/Histories in SA, As we are, Beauty, Black Lesbian, Black Lesbian Congregants, Black Lesbian professionals, Black lesbian wedding, Members of VMCI in Durban, Relationships, Solidarity, South Africa, Speaking for ourselves, Textualizing Our Own Lives, Traditions & Customs, Visual Activist, Visual history is a Right not a luxury, Visual Language, Visual Power, Visualizing public spaces, We Are You, We Love Photography, We Still Can with/out Resources, We were (t)here, When Love is a Human Right, Women's power, Women; Voices; Writings; Education; Traditions; Struggles; Cultures, Words, Writing is a Right, Zanele Muholi, Ziningi & Delisile Ndlela, Zulu is a South African language | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

2014 June 20: Spana my child

by Pam Dlungwana How do you describe Inkanyiso to a foreign audience? What is it? Is it an artist’s itch to get back into the activist pool because that is how they have framed their practice in the global sphere? … Continue reading

Posted in Black Queer Professionals, Christine Eyene’s ‘Where We’re At!, Connections, Contributors, Creating awareness, Creative activist, Cultural activists, Curatorship, Education, Empowerment, Evidence, Exchanging Queer thoughts, Exhibition opening, Exhibitions, Exposure, Expression, Faces & Phases portraits, Faces and Phases, Feelings, Female Photographers, Freedom of being, God is with us, Homosexuality, Life Stories, Panelists, Solidarity, Spana is a slang which means to work, Supporting each other, Travel-logue, Visual Activist, Visual democracy, Visual history, Visual history is a Right not a luxury, Visual Power, Visual Voices, Visualizing public spaces, We Are You, We Care, We Love Photography, We Still Can with/out Resources, We were (t)here, When Love is a Human Right, Women's power, Words, Writing is a Right, Youth voices, Zanele Muholi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

2014 May 13: “Making love to it”

by Lebohang ‘Leptie’ Phume   Based on the 12th April 2014 photo shoot experience in Parktown, Johannesburg I have never imagined myself behind the camera, instructing or photographing. But that perception changed few weeks ago when I found myself watching … Continue reading

Posted in Beauty queens, Creating awareness, Textualizing Our Own Lives, Visual Language, Visual Power, We Are You, We Care, We Love Photography, Zanele Muholi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

2014 May 2: Photo of the night

Inkanyiso member on the left meeting our stars… Where: Joburg Theatre When: Sat. 2nd May 2014 Featuring who: L-R: Smanga Shange and a friend, Lebo Mashile and Pamella Nomvete. Photo by Zanele Muholi      

Posted in Activism, Activists Act, Artists, As we are, Creative Writing, Creativity, I can't do it ALONE, I was (T)here, Identity, Life Stories, Love, Love is a human right, Memory, Moments in herstory, Ndiyadansa actors, Our lives in the picture, Peace, Photo Expressions, Photography, Power of the Arts, Power of the Voice, Recognition, Reflection, Relationships, South Africa, Together we can, Visual Power, We Are You, We Care, We Love Photography, We were (t)here, Women's power, Zanele Muholi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment