Zanele Muholi: dark lioness
With a new series of portraits, the South African artist and activist examines what it means to be black
By Mark Gevisser
Zanele Muholi’s self-portraits are so dark they glow. Called “Somnyama Ngonyama” (“Hail the Dark Lioness”), the series has been shown in ten cities across the world in the past year. Last autumn they stared out of digital billboards over Times Square in New York as part of the city’s Performa Biennial festival. They sold out in the previews at Muholi’s New York gallery and are about to be published as a book by Aperture. From a black, working-class family, Muholi is South Africa’s biggest international art star after William Kentridge and David Goldblatt, two white men a generation older.
More from 1843 magazine
1843 magazine | Will there ever be a Google Translate for pets?
The tech world is on the case – but there’s no guarantee that our animals will have anything interesting to say
1843 magazine | The year in pictures 2024
Images that defined the year
1843 magazine | To the manor bought: the Americans who want to be British lords
The market for “noble” titles is booming
1843 magazine | The earthling’s guide to building a Moon base
One-armed robots are being trained in lunar construction
1843 magazine | Inside the AI back-channel between China and the West
Computer scientists are reaching out across the geopolitical divide to try to stop an apocalypse
1843 magazine | A journey through the world’s newest narco-state
Drugs transformed Ecuador from a Latin American success story into a war zone