Photography, a Feminist History by Emma Lewis

Author:Emma Lewis [Lewis, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Zanele MUHOLI

Born 1972, Umlazi, Durban,

South Africa. Lives and works

Johannesburg, South Africa.

In 2006, the year same-sex marriage was legalized in South Africa, Zanele Muholi began the project Faces and Phases (2006–ongoing). The work now includes hundreds of portraits of Black lesbians, those who are gender nonconforming and trans men from South Africa. A testimony of the struggle and resilience of the Black queer community, Muholi’s work is often displayed in a grid format alongside writings by or audio recordings of the participants. “I am a young Black lesbian woman and I pride myself in knowing who I want to share my life, soul and body with” writes one participant, Phila Mbanjwa.[1] “I am not a Victim, but a Victor” writes Lungile Dladla, a survivor of “curative rape” – a hate crime intended to enforce heterosexuality and gender conformity.[2]

Influenced by the documentary work of apartheid-era photographers, as well as the work of JEB (Joan E. Biren, pages 162–3), Muholi turned to documentary and portraiture in an act of collaboration with their community. While they had seen photography of queer lives by international photographers, it was severely lacking within a South African context: “I thought to myself that if you have remarkable women in America and around the globe, you equally have remarkable lesbian women in South Africa.”[3]

Faces and Phases is a living archive, in that some participants appear more than once, at different times within their lives. This commitment to a project over many years is also found in their self-portrait series Somnyama Ngonyama (2012–ongoing). By photographing themselves in different guises, Muholi found a means of self-expression closely tied to their daily experiences. They see both series as a way to visually document a continuous journey, one that will provide a positive visual politic for the next generation.

Muholi describes themselves as a visual activist, using photography to show the existence of those who are often excluded from the canon. Despite the changes in the law, LGBTQI+ people in South Africa continue to face discrimination, marginalization and violence. Muholi, in bringing these realities to light, refuses the shame and stereotyping that can mean that they remain untold. “I’m creating ‘self’ and ‘selves’ in space and I want people to understand our existence and presence, to say ‘we exist’ ” they said.[4] For many, the words “we exist” remain a simple but powerful statement, as does Muholi’s work in demanding this existence be heard. EJ

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.