Zanele Muholi. Photo: Elizabeth Carababas, courtesy of Southern Guild
Zanele Muholi
PROJECT
With a career spanning two decades, Zanele Muholi is internationally recognised for their photographic practice celebrating the lives of South Africa’s Black LGBTQIA+ communities. Recently Muholi has extended their examination of race and gender into large-scale sculpture. Umkhuseli (The Protector) depicts the artist as the Virgin Mary, draped in robes, their hands clasped in prayer. The self-portrait references Muholi’s Roman Catholic upbringing, evoking the image of Mary as a figure of maternal endurance and sacrifice. Umkhuseli (The Protector) also reflects on the inadequacies of religious, legal and political institutions to address gender-based injustices, calling for communal healing and greater empathy towards all individuals.
The acquisition of this artist’s work is supported by an anonymous donor
ABOUT
Zanele Muholi is a visual activist, humanitarian and artist. Solo exhibitions of Muholi’s work have taken place at Tate Modern and Autograph ABP, London (UK); Fundação de Serralves, Porto (Portugal); Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris (France); Instituto Moreira Salles Paulista, São Paulo (Brazil); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, and the Brooklyn Museum, New York (US); and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Their work was included in the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), dOCUMENTA 13 (2012), and the 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010). Muholi’s work can also be found in major public collections including, in the United States, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; in the UK, Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London); the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Cape Town, South Africa); as well as Centre Pompidou (Paris, France).