Since 2015, South African artist and visual activist Zanele Muholi has created an ongoing body of self-portraits called 'Somnyama Ngonyama' (translated from Zulu as “Hail, the Dark Lioness”). Turning the...
Since 2015, South African artist and visual activist Zanele Muholi has created an ongoing body of self-portraits called "Somnyama Ngonyama" (translated from Zulu as “Hail, the Dark Lioness”). Turning the camera on themself, the artist adopts different poses, characters and archetypes to address issues of race and representation. The resulting images explore themes of labour, racism, Eurocentrism and sexual politics, often commenting on events in South Africa’s history and Muholi’s experiences as a South African black queer person traveling abroad. By enhancing the contrast in the photographs, Muholi also emphasizes the darkness of their skin tone, reclaiming their blackness with pride and re-asserting its beauty.