Zanele Muholi (South Africa 1972-)
Muholi V Maquette

polished bronze accompanied by a bespoke box

Artwork date: 2024
Edition: 7 from an edition of 50
Exchange Rates*: USD 3 600 – 4 799
GBP 2 698 – 3 598
EURO 3 100 – 4 134

(1)

bronze dimensions: 25 x 12.5 x 6.5 cm; box dimensions: 29 x 17.5 x 10 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, London.

Tate Modern, London.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Muholi V maquette, 2024 is a limited-edition bronze released to coincide with the major exhibition, Zanele Muholi, at Tate Modern (6 June 2024 – 26 January 2025). The work is a maquette of Muholi V (2023), a larger bronze sculpture depicting a solitary figure reclining in quiet repose, supported by bolsters and gently enveloped in a blanket. Cast in bronze, a material historically associated with public monumentality, the work foregrounds themes of rest, self-preservation and care, particularly for Black queer bodies in public space.

The larger Muholi V was first presented at the 2023 Paris+ par Art Basel as part of The Politics of Black Silhouettes series. Muholi’s sculptural works were displayed in The Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, where they were placed in dialogue with works by artists such as Auguste Rodin and Alberto Giacometti. Installed directly on the ground rather than elevated on pedestals, the sculptures challenged conventional hierarchies of display and notions of value and reverence. As Muholi has noted, their broader project seeks "to rewrite 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."[1]

Zanele Muholi, Muholi V, from the Politics of Black Silhouettes series, displayed in the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris as a part of Paris + par Art Basel (2023)

Zanele Muholi, Muholi V, exhibited at Tate Modern (2024)

^{[1] Ebert, G. (2023). In Paris, Zanele Muholi’s Bronze Sculptures Summon the Stories of Black Queer South Africans, Colossal. [O]. Available:}

^{https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/10/zanele-muholi-bronze-sculpture/}

^{Accessed 31 May 2026}

Notes:

Accompanied by a Tate Modern certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

COLLECTIONS:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Cincinnati Art Museum; Fondation Blachère, Apt; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Huis Marseille Museum for Photography, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Museum of Modern Art of Arnhem, Netherlands; National Gallery of Art, Ottawa; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Princeton Museum of Art; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Tate Modern, London; The Art Institute of Chicago; Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCCA), Cape Town.