Zanele Muholi’s Transformations
A photographer known for taking striking portraits of members of the
black queer community in South Africa turns the camera on herself.Muholi is reaching deep into herself, sucking out the troubled history in her marrow. Her self-portraits explode stereotypes of African women while evoking them, implicating the viewers for summoning those clichés as they gaze upon her skin. What does it mean to see Muholi’s face surrounded by clothespins and see a headdress? Where have you seen these images before? And who took them?
Images: Zanele Muholi // Courtesy Yancey Richardson Gallery