Zanele Muholi

Born in South Africa in 1972, Zanele Muholi came to prominence in the early 2000s with photographs that sought to envision black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and intersex lives beyond deviance or victimhood. Muholi’s work challenges hetero-patriarchal ideologies and representations, presenting the participants in their photographs as confident and beautiful individuals bravely existing in the face of prejudice, intolerance, and, frequently, violence. While Muholi’s intimate photographs of others launched their international career, their intense self-portraits solidified it. The illustrations include images from the key series Muholi has produced over the past 20 years, as well as never-before-published and recent works. This book, and the exhibition it accompanies, present the full breadth of Muholi’s photographic and activist practice.