Zabantu I, Boston Installation Image

“I am producing this photographic document to encourage people to be brave enough to occupy space, brave enough to create without fear of being vilified ... To teach people about our history, to re-think what history is all about, to re-claim it for ourselves, to encourage people to use artistic tools such as cameras as weapons to fight back …forcing the viewer to question their desire to gaze at images of my black figure”

Somnyama Ngonyama features self-portraits taken in the many countries and cities Muholi has visited across the world. The artist employs various materials, often common or linked to the specific location of a shoot, to reflect the journey and explore their own image and possibilities as a black individual responding to contemporary and historical racisms in today’s global society.

Left to Right: Zanele Muholi; Faces and Phases Selection, 2006-2019; Zabantu I, Boston, 2016; and Mirender Nxumalo, Durban, KwaZulu Natal, 2020.