Zanele Muholi and the enduring power of visual activism

From the AD HOC NEWS Art Desk » Work Series & Retrospective Desk - The editors cover exhibitions, auctions, collections, prizes and artistic positions. Published: July 04, 2026 · Last checked: July 04, 2026, 10:07 PM

Zanele Muholi has become one of the central figures of contemporary photography for their self-described visual activism around Black LGBTQIA+ communities in South Africa. Their long-term series, from Faces and Phases to the self-portrait project Somnyama Ngonyama, has reshaped how institutions and audiences engage with queer visibility and Black subjectivity.

Long-running series as lifework

Muholi’s series Faces and Phases, begun in 2006, documents Black lesbian and transgender people in South Africa and the diaspora through sustained portrait collaboration rather than one-off images. Over hundreds of portraits, the project tracks changing lives, aging, and resilience, while countering erasure in mainstream media.

The later series Somnyama Ngonyama (‘Hail the Dark Lioness’) turns the camera back on the artist, using self-portraiture, heightened contrast and everyday materials to stage allegorical images about race, labor and histories of violence. Each photograph deploys props such as scouring pads, cables or plastic as charged symbols of exploitation and survival.

Retrospective trajectories and major touring shows

Major museums have framed Muholi’s work through large-scale survey exhibitions over the past decade, often combining early community-based projects with the more formally experimental self-portraits. These shows tend to emphasize the continuity between activist documentation and highly staged images, situating Muholi both within photojournalistic traditions and global contemporary art discourse.

Retrospective formats commonly include wall texts and public programs developed with queer activists and scholars, reinforcing that the work functions not only as art but as a community archive and pedagogical tool. Against this backdrop, Muholi’s practice has moved from smaller project spaces to leading museums in Europe, North America and Africa.

The core of Muholi’s visual activism

Muholi consistently describes themselves as a visual activist rather than simply a photographer, foregrounding that the work is meant to intervene in social narratives about Black queer life. Portraits are developed through collaboration, with sitters choosing how they wish to appear, and many participants return over years.

Alongside images, Muholi’s projects often involve workshops, community organizing and the building of archives, so that the works circulate both on museum walls and within activist networks. The photographs therefore function simultaneously as artworks, testimonies and tools for solidarity.

Material and formal strategies across series

In Faces and Phases, Muholi largely uses black-and-white portraiture to focus attention on expression and presence rather than colorful distraction. The consistent tonal palette builds a visual continuum between individuals, while each sitter’s styling and demeanor remain distinct.

By contrast, Somnyama Ngonyama leverages extreme contrast and darkened skin tones to foreground the politics of representation, echoing histories of photographic racialization while reclaiming agency through self-staging. Props and backgrounds are meticulously chosen to reference domestic work, surveillance, border control and other structural conditions.

International institutional presence

Over the last decade, Muholi’s work has entered numerous public collections, including major museums in Europe and North America, placing their images in proximity to canonical photography and contemporary art holdings. This institutional presence has helped ensure long-term preservation of both prints and related archival materials.

Collection entries typically include key works from Faces and Phases and Somnyama Ngonyama, signaling that museums understand these series as central to Muholi’s practice. At the same time, smaller community-oriented projects often remain active outside the museum context, maintaining the dual orientation toward institutions and grassroots spaces.

Critical reception and scholarly engagement

Art historians and cultural theorists have engaged extensively with Muholi’s work, writing on topics such as queer visibility, archival responsibility, and the ethics of representation. Essays and catalog texts frequently emphasize how the images complicate voyeuristic viewing, inviting accountability from audiences.

Scholars also highlight Muholi’s refusal to separate aesthetics from politics, arguing that the formal decisions in the photographs cannot be disentangled from the lived realities they address. As a result, Muholi’s series have become staples in university syllabi on contemporary art, gender studies and African cultural production.

Public programs, talks and collaborations

Exhibitions of Muholi’s work are often accompanied by artist talks, panel discussions and film screenings that extend the conversation beyond the gallery. These programs frequently involve activists, curators and community members, connecting local contexts to the experiences depicted in the photographs.

Muholi has also collaborated with grassroots organizations, using images to support campaigns against hate crimes and discrimination. In these collaborations, photographs may be reproduced in booklets, posters or online platforms, always with attention to consent and safety of those portrayed.

Photobooks and publishing projects

Photobooks have played an important role in disseminating Muholi’s work beyond the exhibition circuit. Volumes dedicated to Faces and Phases or Somnyama Ngonyama gather series images alongside essays by writers, activists and scholars, creating layered records that combine visual and textual testimony.

These books circulate internationally through art bookstores, libraries and academic institutions, reaching readers who may not encounter the work in person. For collectors, first editions and signed copies of photobooks form a complementary collecting avenue alongside framed prints.

Position within contemporary photography

Muholi is widely regarded as part of a broader generation of artists who use portraiture to challenge dominant narratives about race, gender and sexuality. Within this field, their work stands out for its sustained, long-term commitment to specific communities rather than a series of isolated projects.

Critics often place Muholi in dialogue with earlier documentary photographers and with contemporary artists working in self-portraiture. However, the explicit framing as visual activism and the focus on Black LGBTQIA+ lives mark a distinct contribution that continues to influence younger practitioners.

How the artist works

Muholi works primarily in photography, developing series over many years in close collaboration with participants and communities. Projects such as Faces and Phases and Somnyama Ngonyama operate at the intersection of portraiture, performance and archive, with the studio extending into domestic and urban spaces.

Where the artist stands now

Zanele Muholi’s established visual activism practice continues to evolve through ongoing photographic series and related community projects, without a publicly announced new exhibition or event date within the immediate 30-day window.

This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.

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