Who is Zanele Muholi?
The three major billboards that were distributed on the NDSM have been renewed with work by none other than South African photographer Zanele Muholi (they/them). Muholi is an engaged photographer who — through an activist lens — explores and documents South Africa's LGBTQI black identity.
For more than twenty years, he has been laying Muholi black queer, transgender and intersex people caught through his lens, resulting in powerful contrasting black and white portraits that reclaim the meaning of “blackness” and undermine the clichéd, stereotypical images of black people. His work is a genuine representation of the black and queer identity whose versatility is shown in a celebrated way. For the photographer, the people in their photos are not “just” models, but rather participants who contribute as much to the photo as themselves.
The works on display at the NDSM are all self-portraits by the artist, where Muholi in two cases looks directly into the camera, or rather, into the eye of the viewer. Muholi has increased the contrast of the images to highlight the color of his skin. In addition, Muholi takes on a different shape in each photo — through the use of everyday matter — changing it into different characters. In the work 'Kodwa I, Amsterdam' (2017), the artist is draped in hair, once again challenging stereotypes about Africans.
Over the years, his work has been exhibited in leading museums worldwide, such as Tate Modern in London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 2017, Muholi debuted his photo series “Somnyama Ngonyama” (Hail, the Dark Lioness) in the Netherlands at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, along with a selection of photos from his series “Faces and Phases” and “Brave Beauties”. With several awards, Muholi has become one of the most acclaimed photographers of our time.
The compelling works shown on the NDSM Billboards were shown during Pride week Amsterdam.
