2015
VISUAL ACTIVISM
Artist: Zanele Muholi
For more than a decade, South African artist Zanele Muholi has used photography and video to explore the realities of LGBTI life in Africa, including ‘corrective rape’. Muholi started out as a photographer and reporter for Behind the Mask, an online magazine on LGBT issues in Africa, and launched ‘visual activism’ through their first solo exhibition Visual Sexuality: Only Half the Picture 2004 at Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa. Their work, which has been exhibited internationally, focuses on making queers in the black community more visible. VISUAL ACTIVISM cuts through to the reality that visibility creates political and social power. The stakes in some countries around the world are high – in South Africa, hate crimes against the LGBTI community are all too frequent.
IMAGES
VISITOR COMMENTS
Amazing work, we need to create a change in our conscious. – Really valuable. We all deserve to be loved, and share it.
Lita E
Brave, beautiful work. So glad I got to see the show. Very inspiring. Thankyou.
Hannah P
Zanele, your images of lesbian women are really beautiful. Your story of the struggles lesbian women face in South Africa was very moving and painful to see. Your images are a joy, love and celebration of lesbian lives. Sending you love. Thankyou so much for sending your work here.
Julia R
Your soul shines through your work. Continue to share your light around this globe of ours. You are truly an amazing courageous, brave, inspiring women of your community. SYMBOL: Smiley Face. Wish to have met you in person, but deep down I feel like I did. Thankyou.
Tenzin K (Western Australia)
Wow!!! Very interesting documentaries, they open a big window on other people’s lives in South Africa. Zanele’s photographs show the heart and the beauty of her subjects. She is a true artist with a big, big heart. BRAVO!
Stratos F