Zanele Muholi’s visual activism comes out to play in Faces and Phases 13

Showing at Stevenson Gallery until 30 August, Prof. Zanele Muholi’s Face and Phases 13 has grown into a living archive of black and white photographic portraits of more than 500 members of the LGBTQ+ community. Founded in 2006, the photographic series does not only stay true to Muholi’s visual activism but also averts the lack of black queer visibility in its attempt at legitimizing LGBTQ+ right to exist.

“This is beyond art, it’s work our hearts produced from the deepest corners of our souls,” Muholi said.

The exhibition is not so much about Muholi’s prowess behind the lens but the community that has been built overtime throughout the series’ 13-year existence. Upon stepping into the gallery, the viewer feels a sense of familiarity and warmth as a result of Muholi’s use of black and white photographic portraits.

“It needs to touch somebody out there, it might not be immediate but it has to move something and it has to trigger your sixth sense. I produce to do that, to make sure that the next person out there, who doesn’t have an idea of we are, gets a grip of who we are,” said Muholi.

Ensuring the visibility of the subjects, Faces and Phases 13 visits politics of existence and expression. The exhibition addresses the demise of visual history for black LGBTQ+ people within the South African queer canon and draws attention to the brutal hate crimes that continue to plague South Africa today.

“With my work, I want to make sure that LGBTQ+ people are not regarded as second citizens in a country where they contribute a great deal towards the economy,” Muholi said.

Muholi’s work is deeply personal and laden with overlapping themes of love, community and visibility. The new exhibition aims to highlight the long-term relationships that have been nurtured through the series, focusing on the beauty of the participants and the importance of archiving their presence.

“Work isn’t about me, work is for the people about the people, because they are the ones who give me high-definition. They define the person I am and without them, there is no show, this exhibition is about the people who are featured in it and who are worthy and beyond what is scripted in the South African Constitution,” said Muholi.

This year, Faces and Phases 13 embraces a contemplative stance to honour some of the milestones reached by the activist project, while acknowledging the long road ahead before full liberation may be achieved, including the total eradication of hate crimes against members of the LGBTQ+ communities. The project visually lobbies for the inclusion of and non-discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in economic, academic, social and other spheres of society.