2005
Photography
40 x 30 cm
Self is part of photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholi’s first major series, Only Half the Picture (2002–2006), which garnered them critical acclaim. The project was part of their work with the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, which Muholi co-founded in 2002 and serves as a groundbreaking moment in presenting the black lesbian experience in art.
Only Half the Picture portrays the LGBTQIA+ survivors of hate crimes across South Africa. The photographs depict various parts of the subjects’ bodies, including heads, groins, thighs, breasts, and abdomens, showing scars on bare skin. The artist wanted to show not only the physical trauma, but also their intimate, personal stories, expanding the narrative beyond victimhood. As they explained, the series is more about intimacy, privacy, and body politics within our community, rather than about specific individuals.
Zanele Muholi (b. 1972) is a South African self-described visual activist, photographer, and co-founder of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW). Their photographic series – from Faces and Phases to the iconic self-portrait project Somnyama Ngonyama – constitute one of the most powerful and nuanced bodies of work addressing Black queer experience in contemporary art today. Muholi has presented solo exhibitions at major institutions across the world including Tate Modern, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Iceland, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Stedelijk Museum, Brooklyn Museum and many more, as well as both the 55th and 58th Venice Biennale.
