Zanele Muholi

Zanele Muholi

Biography

The internationally known photographer Zanele Muholi was born in Umlazi (Durban) and lives in Johannesburg. She was first a human rights activist for black lesbian women before she began using photography to explore the theme of sexual self-determination in South Africa. She studied at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown (Johannesburg) and worked in various capacities, including as a reporter and photographer for the LGBTI website “Behind the Mask”. Many of her photographs unveil violence against people who do not fit into heterosexual norms. For many years, she documented hate crimes of this sort, including rapes that were committed against lesbian women to allegedly “cure” them. In 2002, she co-founded the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, an organisation of black lesbians in South Africa.

Muholi has received numerous awards, including one from the African Photography Encounters in Bamako (2009), the Freedom of Expression Art Award (2013), and the Casa Africa prize for the best African photographer. At the DAK’ART 2014, a biennial African contemporary art festival in the Senegalese capital, Islamic fundamentalists stormed an “African Queerness” exhibit in which her work was shown.

Filmography

Festivaleröffnung / Opening / Ouverture : Guest

Queer Africa I : Guest

Two Men and a wedding (2012): Guest

Queer Africa III : Guest

Difficult Love (2011): Guest, Direction