South African photographer and activist, Zanele Muholi, captures the experiences of the black LGBTQIA community in Africa, aiming 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.”
Muholi co-founded the Forum for Empowerment of Women (FEW) in 2002, and in 2009 founded Inkanyiso, a forum for queer and visual activist media.
“My practice as a visual activist looks at black resistance—existence as well as insistence,” she shared with aperture. “The key question that I take to bed with me is: what is my responsibility as a living being—as a South African citizen reading continually about racism, xenophobia, and hate crimes in the mainstream media? This is what keeps me awake at night.”
In a series of self-portraits, Muholi aims to show “just how important our black faces are when confronted by them—for this blackface to be recognized as belonging to a sensible, thinking being in their own right.”
Be sure to follow her Instagram account for more of her inspiring work.
