Sir Zanele Muholi: Being Muholi

The powerful images of visual activist and internationally-acclaimed photographer Sir Zanele Muholi are highlighted in Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance, on view through May 8 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM) in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 50 works, Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance is the first museum exhibition to pair Muholi’s iconic black and white self-portraits with their recent paintings and a sculptural bronze. Artist and activist, Muholi has made it their mission to document the lives of Black LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual plus) individuals in their home country of South Africa and beyond, building a visual archive of representation while confronting issues of inequality, social injustice and Black queer visibility.  In their practice of visual activism which began nearly two decades ago, Muholi (who uses they/them/their pronouns) is sustained by the spirit of “ubuntu,” a Zulu quality that embraces our shared humanity and compassion. 

Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance includes photographs from Muholi’s stylized black and white self-portrait series, Somnyama Ngonyama (“Hail the Dark Lioness”), including five images created during Muholi’s time as a Gardner Artist-in-Residence (2019). The exhibition also includes works from the series Being, capturing everyday lives of same-sex couples, and Brave Beauties, depicting transgender women and beauty queens. 

Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance debuts — for the first time in a museum — the artist’s paintings and sculpture created during the COVID-19 pandemic.  These vibrant paintings further Muholi’s continuum of hyper-imaging of self to challenge stereotypes and prejudices rooted in race, class, gender identity and sexual orientation. The artist’s larger-than-life bronze self-portrait bust effortlessly translates the sculptural qualities of Muholi’s photography into 3D.  Additionally, reflecting the importance that Muholi places on the written word, poetic responses were penned by Boston Poet Laureate and Gardner Artist-in-Residence (2021) Porsha Olayiwola.  A large-scale self-portrait is displayed as public art on the Museum’s Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade.  

Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance was co-curated by Pieranna Cavalchini, Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and theo tyson, Penny Vinik Curator of Fashion Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Zanele Muholi is represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery (New York) and Stevenson Gallery (Cape Town/Johannesburg).  

Learn more about the exhibition and the Gardner Museum’s related public programs on our website. 

Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance is supported by the Abrams Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Wagner Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. The Media Partner is WBUR. The Artist-in-Residence program is directed by Pieranna Cavalchini, Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art, and is supported in part by the Barbara Lee Program Fund. The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.