Inspiring artist, activist Muholi to be honoured

NEW York charity gala ArtBall will honour South African artist and LGBTQI+ visual activist Zanele Muholi, with the Rees Visionary Award for her powerful work that addresses human rights affecting the LGBTQI+ community.

ArtBall is a contemporary African art auction and philanthropic event that aims to raise funds and awareness for Amref Health Africa – a healthcare non-profit organisation that trains African health workers.

Named after Amref’s late founder, surgeon and artist Dr Tom Rees, the Rees Visionary Award is given to artists ArtBall feel are creating work that educates, inspires and emboldens people in these challenging times.

The award will be presented to Muholi on April 27.

“This honour is not only for me, but for others who made it possible for me,” she said. “Activists from around the country, especially black women who made a difference in their communities and LGBTI+ members who are featured in my work made it possible for me.”

Muholi’s work, Somnyama Ngonyama, Faces and Phases and Brave Beauties is taught at many universities and exhibited around the world.

Faces and Phases features more than 1 000 portraits captured since 2006.

“The day the Constitution was amended in 1996 changed my life. I had a vision to have strong portraits of black lesbian, transgender and bisexual people in South Africa. “The Constitution gave us a right to exist; it recognises us and respects us.”

Muholi said her mission was “to rewrite 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 South Africa and beyond”.

In 2017 she was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters) by French ambassador Christophe Farnaud.

Muholi co-founded the Forum for Empowerment of Women in 2002, and in 2009 founded Inkanyiso (www.inkanyiso.org), a forum for queer and visual (activist) media.

They run a mobile school of photography, teaching young people the basics “so they can be the next generation of photographers” she said.

Muholi also works with the Philadelphia Photo Arts Centre in the US, teaching photography to women of colour.