SAVANNAH: ZANELE MUHOLI

Zanele Muholi

February 24, 2025 - July 6, 2025

SCAD MUSEUM OF ART
601 Turner Blvd.
Savannah, Georgia

From scadmoa.org: 

Zanele Muholi is an esteemed visual activist and artist known for their work exploring issues of gender identity, representation, and race. For two decades, Muholi has used the mediums of photography, film, and sculpture to document and celebrate the lives of Black Queer people in South Africa and beyond. The artist challenges gender stereotypes, honors lived experiences, and emphasizes the need for visibility, recognition, and respect for their LGBTQIA+ community.

This exhibition includes several images from the acclaimed and ongoing body of work Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness), a series of self-portraits that casts Muholi as the central figure in stark black-and-white images. In these staged, confrontational portraits, the artist dons ordinary items including clothespins, rugs, and plastic bags, transforming them into powerful symbols of everyday personal and political commentary.

The exhibition also includes selections from the series Brave Beauties, which turns the camera on trans women and nonbinary people, depicting them in bold, empowered poses, and Faces and Phases, a living archive of portraits of Black lesbians, gender-nonconforming individuals, and trans men that began in response to the violence and discrimination faced by this community in South Africa. A never-before-seen selection of portraits continues the artist’s Somnyama Ngonyama series in lightbox format, heightening the dramatic contrast of light and shadow. Through these works, Muholi reenvisions Black Queer representation and challenges pervasive stereotypes, offering an empathetic and emboldened presentation of the human experience.

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