HOF-Inductee Zanele Muholi — International Photography Corridor of Fame and Museum

Zanele Muholi (they/them, b. 1972, Umlazi, South Africa) is an internationally acclaimed visible activist and photographer whose work has reshaped the panorama of latest artwork and human rights advocacy. Deeply rooted in South Africa’s complicated post-apartheid socio-political terrain, Muholi makes use of pictures as a software to doc, affirm, and elevate the lives of Black LGBTQ+ people. Through their lens, they craft a robust visible archive that each confronts and resists the erasure and marginalization of queer and trans communities in South Africa and globally.

Muholi’s journey into pictures started with a dedication to activism. In 2002, they co-founded the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW), a Black lesbian rights group. This early work in grassroots advocacy fueled their want to problem social injustice by means of visible storytelling. Muholi studied Advanced Photography on the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg—an establishment based by the legendary photographer David Goldblatt—earlier than incomes an MFA in Documentary Media from Ryerson University in Toronto in 2009. In recognition of their contributions to the humanities, they had been named Honorary Professor on the University of the Arts Bremen in 2013.

Identifying as a “visual activist,” Muholi doesn’t separate their artwork from their activism. Their groundbreaking photographic collection Faces and Phases (2006– ) stands as a significant testomony to this ethos. Through stark black-and-white portraits of Black lesbians, trans males, and gender-nonconforming people, the collection gives a dignified and empowering counter-narrative to dominant media representations. Each topic stares straight into the digital camera, asserting their presence and humanity in a society the place queer our bodies are sometimes rendered invisible or focused by violence. The mission shouldn’t be solely creative however archival, constructing a visible historical past of South Africa’s LGBTQ+ group throughout a time of each constitutional recognition and enduring discrimination.

Muholi expanded this mission with Somnyama Ngonyama (“Hail the Dark Lioness”), a collection of evocative self-portraits that discover id, race, and historic reminiscence. In these images, they exaggerate the darkness of their pores and skin tone to problem perceptions of Blackness and reclaim company over the Black physique. By embodying varied personas—home employees, miners, brides, troopers—Muholi attracts consideration to the intersections of colonialism, labor, gender, and racism, notably as they manifest in South African historical past and up to date society.

Throughout their profession, Muholi has emphasised accessibility and schooling. In 2009, they based Inkanyiso, a platform for queer visible media and dialogue, and have remained deeply engaged with youth empowerment by means of initiatives like Ikhono LaseNatali and PhotoXP, providing pictures coaching and mentorship in under-resourced communities.

Muholi’s work has been exhibited broadly in prestigious venues such because the Tate Modern (London), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Brooklyn Museum (New York), and Gropius Bau (Berlin), in addition to in main biennials together with São Paulo, Venice, and Documenta. Their images are held within the collections of the Guggenheim, MoMA, the Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and lots of others.

The artist’s quite a few honors mirror the worldwide resonance of their work. These embody the ICP Infinity Award for Documentary and Photojournalism (2016), the Lucie Award for Humanitarian Photography (2019), the Spectrum International Prize for Photography (2020), and France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2017). Their photobooks—resembling Faces and Phases (2010) and Somnyama Ngonyama (2018)—have additionally garnered essential acclaim, with the latter profitable the Kraszna-Krausz Best Photography Book Award.

Living and dealing between Durban and Cape Town, Muholi continues to problem typical boundaries between artwork, documentation, and activism. Through a physique of labor that’s as aesthetically compelling as it’s politically pressing, they’ve change into some of the important voices in up to date pictures and a transformative determine within the international battle for LGBTQ+ rights and visibility.