We don’t do well with polarity; if it’s gritty, it’s got to be dirty. If it’s glossy, it’s got to be clean. No, that’s not how we operate; while our life is dirty and gritty, we always try to keep it clean. Our parents’ and our grandparents’ generations are great examples of that.

varietyinblack:

“Foraging (asphixia version)”

Photograph, 2008

William Pope.L

Closer to my heart I - V (2005) | Only half the picture
Zanele Muholi 

Lambda print
600 x 800mm
edition of 8 + 2AP

Luwam I-IV, Toronto (2008) | Indawo Yami Exhibit 
Zanele Muholi

Silver Gelatin Print
Edition of 8 + 2AP

Indawo Yami, which means ‘my place’ or ‘my space’, continues to explore the implications of being black and queer through a range of different series and strategies. Being, a continuation of ongoing work, focuses on a quiet and tender celebration of love within the homosexual community, whether between mothers and sons, between lovers or between friends. In Beulahs Muholi uses Zulu beads and contemporary fashion accessories in presenting portraits of gay men that subvert common images of virginal beauty. In three new series she adds a performative element by casting herself in different roles, such as that of the beauty queen in Miss Lesbian. Muholi writes:

Indawo Yami is where I work, where I share an environment with others, where I act on the issues marking our lives through visual documentation. My focus is mainly on being queer (LGBTI) in South Africa and beyond. This is the realm in which I deal with my identity, as a citizen of my country and of the world.

Odidiva II
District 6, Cape Town, Jan. 2010
Zanele Muholi

Image size: 76.5 x 50.5cm
Paper size: 86.5 x 60.5cm
Silver Gelatin Print
Edition of 8 + 2AP

Not butch, but my legs are
Zanele Muholi (c) 2005 

Silver gelatin print
415 x 600mm
Edition of 8 + 2AP

Denis Carney and Essex Hemphill in Brixton
Rotimi Fani-Kayodé 

silver gelatin print
400 x 420mm 
edition of 10