Home » What's On Glasgow West End: cinema, clubs, theatre, music, events, festivals, community and more » Art, Photography, Exhibitions what's on-glasgow » ZANELE MUHOLI: SOMNYAMA NGONYAMA, ‘HAIL, THE DARK LIONESS’

ZANELE MUHOLI: SOMNYAMA NGONYAMA, ‘HAIL, THE DARK LIONESS’

1 October–6 November 2022

University of Glasgow East Quad, University Avenue, G12 8QQ

Admission free

17 striking self-portraits by celebrated visual activist Zanele Muholi (South African, b. 1972) will go on display at an outdoor exhibition at the University of Glasgow 1 October until 6 November, 2022.

Zanele Muholi, Somnyama I, Paris, 2014. © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg/Amsterdam and Yancey Richardson, New York. Somnyama Ngonyama, meaning ‘Hail, the Dark Lioness’  is delivered by Belfast Photo Festival in partnership with Street Level Photoworks and The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, and coincides with Black History Month Scotland.

Somnyama Ngonyama is Muholi’s ongoing series of black and white self-portraits, taken in cities across Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. In turning the camera on themself, Muholi’s aim is to “create visual archives that resist, affirm and bring forth the complex lives of those often made invisible within South African society, and beyond.”

From the early 2000s, Muholi has documented and celebrated the lives of South Africa’s Black lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex communities.

One of the most acclaimed artists working today, Muholi’s self-proclaimed mission is “to re-write a black queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the world to know of our resistance and existence at the height of hate crimes in South Africa and beyond.”

Zanele Muholi, Qiniso, The Sails, Durban, 2019. © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg/Amsterdam and Yancey Richardson, New York.

Zanele Muholi, Phumula, Paris, 2019. © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg/Amsterdam and Yancey Richardson, New York.

Muholi’s images aim to visually propose new modes of coexistence in the future by engaging with history and the archive. They have said:

“It is important to recognise that our past history of struggle has shaped the present moment. As citizens of South Africa especially, we cannot forget the brutalities of apartheid; it has shaped our consciousness as a nation, hence our work is deeply connected to this history of activism. To me, Somnyama Ngonyama is one way of reckoning with this past – to address its politics of race, racism and colonialism – and it is also a way of addressing a past that still informs the present. My artistic practice offers me the opportunity to not only work creatively through these politics of the past, but also to directly link them to the present; to connect these dots. Photography for me is always first and foremost a tool of activism, driven by the idea of social change.”

In this evocative series of self-portraits, everyday objects are transformed into dramatic and historically loaded props. In staging themself as a variety of identities, archetypes and personae, Muholi’s work poses critical questions about the politics of representation:

“By exaggerating the darkness of my skin tone, I’m reclaiming my blackness, which I feel is continuously performed by the privileged other. My reality is that I do not mimic being black; it is my skin, and the experience of being black is deeply entrenched in me. Just like our ancestors, we live as black people 365 days a year, and we should speak without fear.”

For Muholi, visual activism is a tool for world-building: “This work is done to ensure that the next generation will be able to draw on a diverse – and queer – archive of images for visual reference: a document to see themselves in and feel represented.”

Zandra Yeaman, Curator of Unfinished Conversations at The Hunterian said:

“The Hunterian is going through a time of discomfort asking itself critical questions about ethics, race, social justice and power. This is a great time for us to exhibit Zanele Muholi’s visual activism. This encourages us to reflect and confront our ideas about representation, identities and the legacy of colonial systems.”

Somnyama Ngonyama is on display in the University of Glasgow’s East Quadrangle from 1 October until 6 November 2022. Open daily from 9am until 5pm. Admission free.

A Belfast Photo Festival Touring Exhibition.

(Image: Zanele Muholi, Somnyama I, Paris, 2014. © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg/Amsterdam and Yancey Richardson, New York.)

17 striking self-portraits by celebrated visual activist Zanele Muholi (South African, b. 1972) will go on display in this outdoor exhibition in the University’s East Quadrangle. Somnyama Ngonyama, meaning ‘Hail, the Dark Lioness’, is delivered by Belfast Photo Festival in partnership with Street Level Photoworks and The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, and coincides with Black History Month Scotland. Somnyama Ngonyama is Muholi’s ongoing series of black and white self-portraits, taken in cities across Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.

An exhibition preview will take place on Friday 30 September, from 4.30pm until 7.00pm: Register at Eventbrite

This section: Art & artists Glasgow West End, Art, Photography, Exhibitions what's on-glasgow, Free Events, Pat's Home Page Blog, What's On Glasgow West End: cinema, clubs, theatre, music, events, festivals, community and more