Somnyama Ngonyama Exhibition Tour with Zanele Muholi
Join Artist as First Responder in collaboration with Black Curatorial for an exhibition tour with Zanele Muholi of their incredible solo exhibition at Tate Modern.
Zanele Muholi is one of the most acclaimed photographers working today, and their work has been exhibited worldwide. With over 260 photographs, this major exhibition presents the full breadth of their career to date.
Muholi describes themself as a visual activist. From the early 2000s, they have documented and celebrated the lives of South Africa’s Black lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex communities.
“Somnyama Ngonyama is an unflinchingly personal approach I have taken as a visual activist to confronting the politics of race and pigment in the photographic archive. It is a statement of self-presentation through portraiture. The entire series also relates to the concept of MaID (‘My Identity’) or, read differently, ‘maid’, the quotidian and demeaning name given to all subservient black women in South Africa.
Experimenting with different characters and archetypes, I have portrayed myself in highly stylised fashion using the performative and expressive language of theatre. The black face and its details become the focal point, forcing the viewer to question their desire to gaze at images of my black figure.”