Known for the work Faces and Phases (2006-ongoing), an evolving archive of portraits of South African black lesbians, Zanele Muholi is a photographer who works fiercely against muting and invisibility. Preferring to be referred to as a “visual activist” rather than an artist, Muholi is co-founder of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, as well as Inkanyiso, a platform for queer and visual activism.
The importance of self-representation is central to Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness (2012-ongoing), a series of unapologetic self-portraits that the artist intends to build into 365 images of a year in the life of a black lesbian in South Africa. The series includes works where the artist is defiantly or directly meeting the viewer’s gaze, on view in the Arsenale, and smaller silver gelatin prints where Muholi is avoiding and frustrating it, on view in the Central Pavilion.
