silver gelatin print

Artwork date: 2010
Edition: number 4 from an edition of 8 + 2AP
Exhibited: Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg, Camera Austria International Laboratory for Photography and Theory, 24 November 2018 to 3 March 2019.; National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at FotoFocus Biennial, ZANELE MUHOLI: PERSONAE, 1 October 2016 to 23 January 2017, Cincinnati.; Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, The Women’s Mobile Museum with Zanele Muholi, 24 January to 30 March 2016. ; Brooklyn Museum, New York, Isibonelo/Evidence, 1 May to 8 November 2015.; Wentrup Gallery, Berlin, Selected Faces & Phases and Beulahs, 21 January to 28 February 2014.; University Gallery, Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto, Faces and Phases, 1 May to 1 June and 18 June to 24 August 2014.; Stevenson Gallery at Art Statements Art Basel, Faces and Phases, 15 to 19 June 2011, Basel.
Literature: Coronelli, C. (2016). New York, the ICP Infinity Award to Zanele Muholi. Il Giornale Dell’Arte.; Willis, D. (2015). Zanele Muholi's Faces & Phases. Aperture, Spring 2015 (218).; Hackett, S. & Morel, G. (2014). What It Means to Be Seen: Photography and Queer Visibility / Zanele Muholi: Faces and Phases. Toronto: Ryerson Image Center, illustrated in colour.; Crenn. J. (2012). Zanele Muholi. With uncovered faces. African Policy, 2(126), 146.

(1)

image size: 77 x 50 cm; framed size: 90 x 63 x 4.5 cm

Provenance:

Handspring Puppet Company.

Notes:

Faces and Phases is an insider's perspective that both commemorates and celebrates the lives of the black queers I have met in my journeys. Some of their stories gave me sleepless nights as I tried to process the struggles that were told to me. Many of the women I met had been violated and I endeavoured not to exploit them further through my work. I set out to establish relationships with them based on a mutual understanding of what it means to be female, lesbian and black today. Faces and Phases is about our histories and the struggles that we continue to face.

Zanele Muholi[1]

Zanele Muholi began work on the "Faces and Phases" series in 2006. Recognising the absence of their community from visual history and documentation, the artist embarked on a project to document and create positive imagery of black queers – especially lesbians. Since this time, Muholi has created over 500 black and white portraits. Faces and Phases has grown into a living archive of participants from different parts of South Africa, neighbouring African countries and countries outside of Africa including Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The first part of the "Faces and Phases" series was published by Prestel in 2010 and received a nomination as best photobook of the year at the International Photobook Festival in Kassel and the book Zanele Muholi: Faces and Phases 2006-14, published by Steidl and the Walther Collection, was shortlisted for the 2015 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. Images from the series were also included on the 29th São Paulo Biennale in 2010, Face of Our Time at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2011, the South African Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, dOCUMENTA 13 in 2012, and formed part of Muholi’s recent retrospective exhibition at Tate Modern, London which ran from 2020-1.

A much-celebrated and acclaimed contemporary photographer, Muholi’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Tate Modern, amongst others. Tumi Nkopane, KwaThema, Springs, Johannesburg is in the permanent collections of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Frankfurt and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

Sarah Sinisi

[1][Online] Zanele Muholi: Faces and Phases, written by Zanele Muholi, 12 November 2021 [Available at: http://archive.stevenson.info/exhibitions/muholi/facesphases.htm].