South African Portrait
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| Sarah Lee for The Guardian |
Zanele Muholi, a South African photographer, utilized the power of the self-portrait to illustrate her emotional response to situations when she felt 'othered'.
Muholi currently has an exhibition of her work on display in London. She created a photographic souvenir of all the moments in a year that she or someone she knows had an experience that stemmed from their black skin color.
The Guardian makes a point to illustrate the fact that outside of South Africa Zanele Muholi has been able to express her true self through photography. although she has been made to feel like an "other" in her home country, in a New York City hotel lobby, and any airport security line living in the UK has given her the opportunity to share how those experiences affected her.
Muholi's life's work, a collection of portraits of black South African lesbians called Faces and Phases. This work was spurred by the lack of anything like it when she was growing up. There is an undertone of savageness attached to the culture of South Africa.
"Attacks, murders and “corrective” rapes of lesbians are a brutal reality. Muholi’s project is vital – several of the women she has photographed have since been killed, such as Busi Sigasa, a writer and poet who inspired it."
This sounds like a great show and a moving artistic display. How perfect it's in London now. Even though the artist's show displays many of the horrors of South African society, the story itself definitely celebrates this South African artist.
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