Zanele Muholi
South-African, b. 1972
ID Crisis, Only Half the Picture
2003
Photograph: gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Purchased with funds provided by Wendy Fisher 2015, P81289
Zanele Muholi’s photographs challenge how gender identities are presented. Black lesbians and queers are targets of brutal oppression and violence in South Africa, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, for them to feel safe in their own communities.
Muholi advocates for the LGBTQ+ community in South Africa and establishes “black queer visibility” (Muholi) through the presentation of intimate moments that tell untold stories. Muholi’s photographs challenge the stereotypical perspectives of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer individuals.
In this vulnerable moment, while the woman wraps her breasts to disguise her anatomy, the woman’s desire to hide her identity is emphasized. South Africa does not approve of her sexuality and her decision to express her sexuality as part of her identity, so she must hide her body to deceive the community she lives in and present herself not as a woman.
Amanda Banasiak ’20
Bibliography
Baderoon, Gabeba. “‘Gender Within Gender’: Zanele Muholi’s Images of Trans Being and Becoming.” Feminist Studies 37. Summer 2011.
Zanele Muholi’s photographs aim to rewrite narratives of African sexuality and LGBTQ intimacy. Her series “Transfigures” and “Faces and Places” depict lesbian and transgender life in South Africa with a focus on presenting a new politically meaningful vision of queer life.
Chin, Matthew. “Feelings, Safe Space, and LGBTQ of Color Community Arts Organizing.”Journal of Community Practice. Jul-Dec 2017. pp. 391-407.
There are only a number of spaces where individuals of the LGBTQ community feel safe against oppression. The creation of art and art spaces acts as physical walls which protect these individuals to express their true selves.
DeBarros, Luiz. “Only Half the Picture.” Mamba. May 24, 2006.
Zanele Muholi’s photographs are rooted in her background as an activist for Forum for the Empowerment of Women. Her photographs of queer and lesbian individuals act as active photographs which ask the viewer to think critically ask why images like these are rarely seen.
Farber, Leora. “Beyond the Ethnographic Turn: Refiguring the Archive in Selected Works by Zanele Muholi.” University of Johannesburg, South Africa, 32. 2017. pp. 12-27.
Hal Foster identifies the art movement which focuses on representation of cultural difference and issues of sociopolitical change as the “ethnographic turn in contemporary art.” Zanele Muholi engages with and “refigures” the ethnographic archive by simultaneously replaying and resisting the ethnographic pictorial tropes by affirming the agency and power of those photographed.
Frost, Stuart. “Exploring and Interpreting LGBTQ Histories.” Interpretation Journal, 22. Summer 2017. pp. 7-8.
LGBTQ histories and experiences have traditionally been overlooked or underrepresented by museums and galleries. This show aims writes narratives of these experiences through art.
Igor, Efeoghene. “Rethinking the Egalitarian Potential of Post Apartheid South Africa: Zanele Muholi’s Intervention.” Radical History Review, 126. Oct 2016. pp. 181-193.
Queer and lesbian Africans are targets of sexual violence and disrespect in Africa; they are victims of rape and sexual abuse. Zanele Muholi’s, through her series of “Faces and Places,” gives these victims the authority to speak against the disrespect they experience.
Irish, Anni. “Mapplethrope Legaxy Endures at Guggenheim.” Modern Painters, 37. Apr 2019. 122-123.
U.S. photographer Robert Mapplethrope (1946-1989) is an emblematic figure within the art world and the LGBTQ community as he photographs experiences being LGBTQ. His advocacy in depicting these individuals parallels Muholi, Gyamfi and Owunna’s work illustrating the lives of the LGBTQ community in Africa and the diasporas.
Schjedahl, Peter. “Safe Space.” New Yorker. Oct 9, 2017. Pp. 78-79.“Zanele Muholi: ID Crisis.” Tate.
This articles reviews the LGBTQ art exhibit “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon,” which was held at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. It adds to the narrative of LGBTQ artists representing themselves through safe spaces in the art world.
“Zanele Muholi: ID Crisis.” Tate.
Only Half the Picture (2003-2006) confronts stereotypes and taboos faced by the black LGBTQ community in South Africa.