Giving voice to the unlistened helps to change one’s perspective and to see more clearly how complex and diverse the world really is.

On January 18th 2024, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art opened the Eye Me exhibition of  works by Zanele Muholi. Tony Bravo, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Arts & Culture journalist, wrote that this presentation

is a meaningful, gorgeous exploration of Black, queer lives in South Africa … The most pressing question I left with: How do I express how urgent it is for audiences to see this show?

When I first saw the self-portrait promoting the exhibition of Muholi’s works that was held at the MAD Gallery in Poznan (Poland) in 2023, I thought about the cover of National Geographic magazine with Steve McCurry’s photo of a woman refugee (Afghan Girl) published in 1985. The reason was of course her piercing eyes and powerful gaze. It made me want to learn more and enter the Gallery to explore the artistic endeavors of Muholi. The self-portrait comes from a series of works titled Somnyama Ngonyama, which in Zulu, the artist’s native language, means Hail the Dark Lioness. The word “somnyama” can be translated to “beautiful dark darkness”. The artist describes this series as family documentation. One of the photographs is a tribute to Muholi’s mother, who was a domestic worker, another is dedicated to their father and brother. Each image represents a different person. In those photographs brushes, clothespins and other mundane materials are used. They serve as a reminder of how the black people have been presented in a stereotypical context. Using these attributes and showing them more as fashion artifacts, changes how one can see the subjects of their works. Muholi describes this process as decolonizing photography. Their works are both personal and political. The stories they show don’t come from joyful places, they are always accompanied by the pain.

People captured by Zanele Muholi are beautiful and full of pride for who they are. In one of the interviews, the artist says that they always try to show the beauty of their heroes. It is very clearly visible in their works from the Somnyama Ngonyama series as well as Faces and Phases or Black Beauties. They break the barriers and limits of the beauty standards to show diverse and intriguing individuals. They feel that it is their duty to speak against the absence of certain people in the mainstream, and therefore document the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community. In conversation with Deborah Willis for Aperture Magazine from 2015, the artist said that:

We should be counted and certainly counted on to write our own history and validate our existence. (…) It’s another way (…) I’m basically saying we deserve recognition, respect, validation, and to have publications that mark and trace our existence.

Muholi is more than an artist. They use photographs, sculptures and paintings to make a change in society and to start a conversation about human rights, black identity and queer representation. All of that describes Muholi’s visual activist practice which defines their work.

The exhibition of Muholi’s work in Poznan that I had the opportunity to see broadened my perspective and gave a new look on African art as well. It is also linked to the idea that stands behind the MAD Gallery, a branch of “Uitstalling Art Gallery” from Genk in Belgium. It is owned by Danny Weckx and what he explains as his mission is “to rectify this imbalance, reshaping Western perceptions of African art”. By art he chose for all galleries he breaks the eurocentric point of view. 

I had the opportunity to meet and talk to Danny. During our conversation, he said that he is always trying “to find something that is deeply connected to the artist”. This is what attracted him to Zanele Muholi’s art, as he found that “they are using art as a therapy for oneself and the world”. In Danny’s opinion art is a mirror of oneself “if you put together someone’s collection, all different pieces, it says a lot about the person”. Works presented by MAD Gallery says a lot about its creators. What I truly appreciate there, is that its exhibitions are arranged with ambition and empathy to both the artist and the viewer. This is what makes this place worth exploring.

Returning to Tony Bravo’s words, it is definitely urgent to see Muholi’s work. Their art is powerful and makes one look from a perspective that underlines the complexity and diversity of the world by affirming the existence of beautiful LGBTQIA+ black people. It is crucial to open oneself to a point of view of others and truly listen to them. America is a different country when described by Jack Kerouc or David F. Wallace rather than James Baldwin. Feminism focuses on different topics when one tries to see it as Reni Eddo-Lodge did. This British journalist and writer, in her book “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” defines that

to be ‘feminist’ in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression.

I always have these words in mind when thinking about social changes that we as a society still need to work on.

Zanele Muholi’s works will be presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art until August 11. Over 260 of their photographs will be exhibited at Tate Modern starting June, 2024. It will be a second presentation of Muholi’s work in London’s Tate. 

If you have that opportunity, don’t hesitate to start your journey with Muholi’s art.

Notes:

• Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, p. 159, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017, 2022
• Zanele Muholi – Interview 2019, Paris Photo, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xO-o9x_XNM,  27.04.2020
• [Art/Afrique] Interview of Zanele Muholi, Fondation Louis Vuitton, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTvNHtD_iH8, 25.01.2018
• Zanele Muholi’s Faces & Phases, Aperture Magazine, April 21, 2015 https://aperture.org/editorial/magazine-zanele-muholis-faces-phases/

About Exhibitions:

Somyama Ngoyama, Zanele Muholi, MAD Gallery, 1.09.-28.10.2023, https://www.uitstalling.com/zanele-muholi-somnyama-poznan
Gallery is open for contact and questions about works from the “Somnyama Ngonyama” series presented at the exhibition.
Zanele Muholi exhibition, Tate Modern, 6.06.2024 – 26.01.2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/zanele-muholi
Zanele Muholi: Eye Me, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 18.01.-11.08.2024, https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/zanele-muholi-eye-me/