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Race, gender and rest with Zanele Muholi at Tate Modern
Tate Modern's latest exhibition celebrates the healing power of protest through the works of Zanele Muholi...
By
Rhea Mathur
June 24, 2024
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
The exit to the Zanele Muholi exhibition at Tate Modern is adjacent to its entrance. The phrase, “Rest as Resistance” is written in silver letters on a large black wall. Provided with white chalk, the audience is invited to scribble their response to ‘What makes you feel powerful’ on the black walls. With large, cushioned seats and a wall full of positive ideas written on top of one another, this exhibition reflects on rest and self-care as acts reserved only for privileged members of society. It instead urges its viewers to understand the power of rest as a form of resistance; while focusing on racism, homophobia and hate crimes, this solo exhibition is strangely calm and positive. In its nine rooms, it discusses apartheid, discrimination based on gender and sexuality and persistent prejudice (to this day) against the LGBTQIA+ community through photography, bronze sculptures, books, videos and newspaper clippings. With spacious rooms, comfortable seating and art placed with sufficient spacing, this exhibition is introspective and aims to squeeze the complacency out of its audience with a warm, tight hug.
Born in 1972 in South Africa, Muholi was raised during the apartheid regime which inculcated a system of institutionalised racial segregation. This included separate public facilities for non-white people under the all-white government enforcing constant discrimination against a majority of the population. By 1996, however, not only had South Africa managed to abolish this regime, it also outlawed any discrimination based on sexual orientation and, in 2006, was the first country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. Muholi was born into a social revolution and it is within it that they learnt resistance, activism and the power of togetherness.
One of the most impactful pieces in this exhibition is a 57-second digital video titled Brave Beauties Public Service Announcement (2017), playing almost halfway through. The video begins with a person sitting confidently in the centre of the frame, wearing bold blue heels. As the video progresses, one person at a time comes and stands next to them, and by the last frame, a group of people are standing together, staring at the audience. They stand close together, signifying a sense of community. The audio booms, echoing into the neighbouring rooms. This concise video plays on a loop, repeating phrases that encourage the audience to practice patience and place power in knowledge. The audio states that, “Once they have more knowledge about transgender people, it is very rare for them to discriminate against that person… Patience Shall Prevail”. The narrator continues to say “People need to just live. Freedom. Just Live… Whatever they were trying to take from me, they failed”. The words in this video signify a constant and tiring need as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to stand up for oneself, to have to fight constant prejudice and oppression. The voice reflects on this fight and hints at a desire for ease and rest.
By walking through the exhibition to reach this video, the audience has already learned more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the exhibition begins to treat its audience like allies. The next room, titled ‘Sharing Stories’, features large couches for comfortable seating. Designed like a movie theatre, this room projects Participant Video Testimonies (2019), in which eight participants share their experiences with gender and identity-based discrimination in South Africa. This setup provides an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the LGBTQIA+ community to sit and learn more. It also suggests that only those open to this conversation, ready for change, and patient enough to listen will stay to watch these testimonies.
Each room in this exhibition feels like a conversation. The photographs that fill the first three rooms introduce Zanele Muholi as a powerful visual artist. Her predominately black-and-white photography captures social injustices and advocates change. It features people looking straight into the camera, looking into the eyes of viewers, asking them who they are. They advocate for change by questioning your gaze, what prejudice it brings and how it can become more inclusive, accepting and kind. The exhibition deals with concepts of healing, coupled with a desire for change. In a series called Faces and Phases (2006- present), Muholi has collected over 600 photographs documenting the lives of Black non-conforming people. Captured over time, she uses these portraits to capture their transformation with age and changes in their sexuality. Muholi’s work in this way captures the movement of society, celebrates change and acknowledges our ability to practice patience with each other, allowing healing, ease and rest.
Zanele Muholi is showing at Tate Modern until 26th January 2025.
