20 July – 30 August 2019
STEVENSON is proud to
present Faces and Phases 13 by Zanele Muholi.
Founded in 2006 in recognition of a lack of black queer visibility, Muholi’s
Faces and Phases series has grown into a living archive of black and white
photographic portraits of more than 500 lesbians, gender-nonconforming
individuals and transmen in various expressions of their sexuality and gender
identity. Lerato Dumse, photographer, writer, longtime participant in the
series and co-ordinator of Inkanyiso Media, appraises this moment, stating:
Celebrations continue to reverberate in South Africa marking 25 years of
democracy. Citizens from different cultural backgrounds are taking stock of the
trials and tribulations that our democracy has faced and continues to brave …
In a unique tribute, Prof. Zanele Muholi unveils a new installation of their
Faces and Phases project.
The exhibition coincides with the visual activist’s birthday month, and the
13th anniversary of this ongoing series. This new exhibition aims to highlight
the long-term relationships that have been nurtured through this series,
foregrounding the beauty of the participants and the importance of archiving
their presence. Created as a means to ensure the visibility of black lesbian
and transgender communities post-1994, the series addresses the dearth of
visual history for black LGBTQIA+ people within the South African queer canon
and draws attention to the brutal hate crimes that continue to plague South
Africa today.
In 2019, Faces and Phases 13 embraces a reflective stance to honour some of the
milestones reached by this activist project, while acknowledging the long road
ahead before full emancipation may be achieved, including the total eradication
of hate crimes against members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. The project
visually lobbies for the inclusion of and nondiscrimination against LGBTQIA+
individuals in economic, academic, social and other spheres of society. Faces
and Phases was born in 2006, 10 years after the new South African constitution
was promulgated, effectively decriminalising homosexuality, and months before
the legalisation of same-sex marriage in South Africa, the first African
country to enact such a law while others slowly follow suit.
The first Faces and Phases portrait of Busi Sigasa was captured at Constitution
Hill, Johannesburg, where many activists who fought against apartheid were
incarcerated. Since that first image of Sigasa, Muholi has photographed more
than 500 other participants in different parts of South Africa, in neighbouring
African countries and, on some occasions, outside the continent in countries
including Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Between 2007 and 2009, Muholi was based in Toronto, Canada, studying at Ryerson
University for a Master’s degree in Documentary Media; their thesis mapped the
visual history of black lesbian identity and politics in post-apartheid South
Africa. As their visual activism has become global, Muholi has invited
participants to join them on their international travels, beginning with the
Chicago Gay Games in 2006, spanning other sport events, Pride parades,
exhibitions, photography workshops, residencies, performances, film festivals,
award ceremonies and other cultural experiences in various parts of the USA,
Canada, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, France, Lesotho, Uganda,
Benin and Botswana.
A key aspect of this photographic archive and programme has been skills-sharing
and knowledge distribution. As an alumnus of the Market Photo Workshop, Muholi
has invested much of their educational philanthropy in this institution. This
has been done by sponsoring the studies of various Faces and Phases
participants and giving them their own photography and media equipment. Muholi
also facilitates training under PhotoXP, their mobile photography workshop
programme, which has a mission to increase the number of visual activists
documenting the black LGBTQIA+ experience in South Africa.
Sustained by resources accumulated during the project’s development and working
as a collective, the participants have been able to access different spaces,
including showing alongside Muholi at a collectively curated Inkanyiso Room – a
showcase of work by the queer media platform founded in 2009 – during Muholi’s
solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2017), as well as Pride and
Loss group exhibitions in Amsterdam, New York and Constitution Hill. According
to Muholi, collaborations are the key to enable us to experience 50 years of
democracy layered with further progress for the LGBTQIA+ community.
The past 13 years have allowed Muholi’s visual activism to develop its own path
and find widereaching success, and yet its milestones have been countered by
the flaws that continue to exist in our society. HIV/Aids, mental health
problems and various chronic illnesses have claimed the lives of six
participants since their first portraits were captured for Faces and Phases.
This loss highlights the inequalities that persist in South Africa, often
preventing ‘ordinary’ citizens from accessing basic quality healthcare. It
painfully demonstrates that not everyone can claim their full constitutional
rights in a country that prides itself on having one of the best constitutions
in the world.
Busi Sigasa (2007), we remember you. Penny Fish (2009), we remember you.
Nosizwe Cekiso (2009), we remember you. Magesh Zungu (2017), we remember you.
Sosi Molotsane(2018), we remember you. Nkunzi Nkabinde(2018), we remember you.
Muholi’s Faces and Phases series has been shown at the South African Pavilion
at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), dOCUMENTA 13 (2012), and the 29th São Paulo
Biennial (2010). Zanele Muholi: Faces and Phases 2006-14, published by Steidl
and the Walther Collection, was shortlisted for the 2015 Deutsche Börse
Photography Prize; a second volume is to be published in 2020. The series will
form part of Muholi’s retrospective exhibition at Tate Modern, London (29 April
to 18 October 2020).
Ends
BIOGRAPHY
Muholi is a visual activist and
photographer born in Umlazi, Durban, and living in Johannesburg. Muholi’s
self-proclaimed mission is ‘to re-write a black queer and trans visual history
of South Africa for the world to know of our resistance and existence at the
height of hate crimes in SA and beyond.
Muholi studied Advanced Photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown,
Johannesburg, and in 2009 completed an MFA: Documentary Media at Ryerson
University, Toronto. In 2013 they became an Honorary Professor at the
University of the Arts/Hochschule für Künste Bremen.
Recent awards and accolades received include the Rees Visionary Award by Amref
Health Africa (2019); a fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society, UK
(2018); France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2017); the
Mbokodo Award in the category of Visual Arts (2017); and the ICP Infinity Award
for Documentary and Photojournalism (2016).
Recent solo exhibitions have taken place at institutions including the Colby
Museum of Art, Maine (2019); the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta
(2018); New Art Exchange, Nottingham (2018); Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos
Aires (2018); Fototgrafiska, Stockholm (2018); LUMA Westbau, Zürich (2018); the
Durban Art Gallery (a survey exhibition conceptualised as a homecoming, 2017);
Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg (2017); Glasgow School of Art (2017);
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2017); and Autograph ABP, London (2017).
Works by Muholi are currently showing as part of May You Live in Interesting
Times, the 58th Venice Biennale; Kiss My Genders at the Hayward Gallery,
London; I Am … Contemporary Women Artists of Africa at the Smithsonian
National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC; and Mirrors – The Reflected
Self at Museum Rietberg, Zürich.
OPENING
The exhibition opens on Saturday 20 July from 9am to 5pm.
HOURS
The gallery is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and Saturday 10am to 1pm.