Zanele Muholi: Zazise

Zanele Muholi is a South African LGBTQIA+ activist and among the most influential international photographers working today. 

Zazise means "to make oneself known" or "to gain information". Since the early 2000s, Muholi has documented the lives of black gender and sexual minorities in South Africa and across the globe.

The ZAZISE exhibition contains art from across two decades and also offers a view into Muholi's self-portraits from different eras. Muholi's breakthrough work Only Half the Picture is concerned with South African minorities who have been victims of hate crimes. By striving to break away from stereotypical methods of depicting victimhood, Muholi's work provides a broader and more intimate angle into the lives of LGBTQIA+ people. In their self-portrait series Somnyama Ngonyama — "Hail the Dark Lioness" — Muholi investigates racism, exoticism, and sexual politics. The wearable installations and compositions of everyday objects are reminiscent of historical images from the era of colonialism.

Finnish Museum of Photography

4.2.-29.5.2022

Mon-Fri 11.00-20.00, Sat-Sun 11.00-18.00

Admission fee 6/12€, under 18 yrs free entry