giclée print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta paper

Artwork date: 2014
Edition: number 1 from an edition of 10APs

(1)

sheet size: 49.5 x 49.5 cm; framed size: 53 x 53 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Cape Town.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Isililo XX, 2014 is an iconic image from Zanele Muholi’s seminal Somnyama Ngonyama series, where the artist steps in front of the camera to create portraits in which they are both the participant and image-maker. Somnyama Ngonyama means ‘Hail, the Dark Lioness’ in isiZulu, and it is Muholi’s personal approach as a visual activist to confront the politics of race and gender identity in the photographic archive. For Muholi, it is a statement of self-presentation and protest through portraiture.

This series sees Muholi continuing to experiment with various archetypes and performing different characters, highly stylised and expressively portrayed in high-contrast black and white photographs.

COLLECTOR'S NOTE

One of the most acclaimed contemporary and activist photographers today, Zanele Muholi’s work continues to garner critical acclaim. Listed at no 28 on the 2022 Art Review Power 100 list, the MEP (Maison Européenne de la Photographie) in Paris recently presented the first major exhibition of the artist’s photographs in France. The Tate Modern is also currently showing a major survey of the artist’s works – based on Muhuli’s 2020/21 exhibition at Tate and including new works, produced since then.

The Fondation Louis Vuitton is, at present, exhibiting From South Africa: Zanele Muholi and David Goldblatt, which showcases the two photographers' work together.

In 2022, Zanele Muholi was an honouree at the International Centre for Photography’s (ICP) 11th Annual Spotlights Benefit in New York. The artist also presented solo exhibitions at the National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland and GL Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark as well as the acclaimed show Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, USA.

Muholi exhibited in May You Live in Interesting Times, the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019 and produced Masihambisane, a project on Visual Activism for Performa 17, New York in 2017.

In 2019, Muholi received the Best Photography Book Award from the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation for Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail, The Dark Lioness.

Examples from another edition of Isililo XX form part of the Zeitz Mocca, and Scheryn Art collections, Cape Town.

COLLECTIONS

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the 21c Museum Hotel, Louisville, USA.; Artur Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany.; Baltimore Museum of Fine Art, Baltimore.; MA Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX.; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, USA.; Brooklyn Museum, New York.; Florida Fondation Blachère, Apt, France.; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.; Guggenheim, New York.; Huis Marseille Museum for Photography, Amsterdam.; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg.; USA Museum of Modern Art, New York.; Museum of Modern Art of Arnhem, The Netherland.; Museion - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Bolzano, Italy.; Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.; National Museum of Mali, Bamako, Mali.; North Carolina Museum of Art.; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town.; SFMOMA, San Francisco.; Tate Modern, London.; The Art Institute of Chicago.; University of Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.; University of South Africa Art Gallery, Pretoria.; Victoria and Albert Museum, London.; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA.; Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town.