Faces and Phases

2011
Zanele Muholi

Silver gelatin prints on baryta pape
Twelve prints

In 2006, Muholi began work on Faces and Phases, “Faces” meaning people and “Phases” meaning the different phases of constructing one’s identity. Today this iconic series features nearly three hundred portraits of women they encountered in South Africa. Pictured at different points in their lives, all the women are photographed according to the same principle: from an equal distance, either facing the camera or turned at a slight angle, either indoors or outdoors, in black-and-white, and without any artifice, decoration, or costumes. In creating this long-term project, Zanele Muholi wanted to give visibility to black lesbian women in South Africa, to reveal their presence and offer them the opportunity to assert themselves—their differences and their singularity. These portraits, unique in their intensity, directly confronting the spectator’s gaze, go beyond social documentary.

Hangs

Crossing views

From 23 September 2020 to 3 January 2021

Born 1972 (South Africa), Zanele Muholi lives and works in Johannesburg. They grew up in a Durban township. After settling in Johannesburg at the age of 19, they studied graphic design and in 2001 enrolled at the Market Photo Workshop, the school founded by David Goldblatt.

Following their first exhibition in 2004 at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the artist worked for the magazine Behind the Mask and cofounded the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, based in Gauteng. Muholi defines themself as a “visual activist”. Their work seeks to shine a light on a marginalised lesbian community, which is often a victim of aggression. Works goes far beyond social documentary to tackle questions of identity head-on. The series Faces and Phases Follow Up – begun in 2006 and comprising 300 portraits – best represents the artist's approach. Each model was photographed at different stages of their life. “I'm trying to establish a relationship based on the mutual understanding of what it means to be a black lesbian woman today,” the artist explains.