Zanele Muholi’s best photograph: out and proud in South Africa

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/25/zanele-muholis-best-photograph-out-and-proud-in-south-africa-lgbti

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This photograph is part of a series called Faces and Phases, which I’ve been working on for a decade. It’s about creating positive images of black lesbians and transgender people in South African society, and it’s dedicated to a close friend of mine who died in 2007 at the age of 25. She was a so-called “curative” rape survivor. I felt I needed to remember the people that were growing up in front of me, and to see myself as one of “us” rather than one of “them”. The project is about us being counted in South African visual history. I think that’s true photography – to say that you were present.

Most of my subjects are friends or friends of friends, and often activists like me. I photograph people who are already out and fully understand who they are. I don’t shoot people that are underage because I don’t want them to risk their lives, especially if they’re still dependent on their parents. It’s too dangerous.

I took this shot of Sinenhlanhla Lunga at a friend’s place in the Katlehong township. I don’t use a studio – we just threw a blanket over the fence as background. I think what defines this image is the gaze. It’s beautiful; there’s nothing superfluous. Sinenhlanhla wanted to be a professional model, but it never happened. You can have a dream of being a visible queer or trans model, but the mainstream hasn’t reached that level of acceptance. When we last spoke, she was about to have a child.

I’m so happy that we’re alive, living in a country that is so infested by hate crime. About three months ago, we had droughts in my hometown of Durban and a church leader said they had been caused by homosexuality and same-sex marriage. It was reported in the media, too. It’s painful to me because the church should be preaching love. At the end of July, on the weekend of Durban Pride, there were storms, floods and snow – it was very strange. I said to a friend: “I wonder what the church leaders are saying now?”

In the same year this photograph was taken, lots of my photographic equipment and my computer was stolen from my apartment in Cape Town. It was a backlash against my work, and it was a double blow because I lost a lot of unpublished material.

One of the most challenging things about being a queer visual activist in South Africa is not having access to spaces to exhibit my work here – where it would be most important – even as I gain recognition abroad. The attitude of politicians towards LGBTI people fluctuates a lot. When one of us has been killed – or there are elections – you find a lot of support, and then when it’s over they come up with a different agenda. That’s why it’s so important to have our own people in politics, in medicine and in the media.

Faces and Phases will carry on as long as I live – we are growing up together. I also give workshops to young women and provide them with cameras to let them document their own lives. Some have even become photographers. That really excites me because I know I’m not fighting alone.

Zanele Muholi’s CV

Born: Umlazi township in Durban, South Africa, 1972.

Education: Market Photo Workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg, and Ryerson University, Toronto.

Influences: “The LGBTI individuals I photograph.”

High point: “Working on a project that has reached 10 years. Also, Faces and Phases being shown at Venice Biennale in 2013 – one of the few queer projects that has made it to that stage.”

Low point: “Being misunderstood.”

Top tip: “Collaborate, support each other’s projects, and give credit where it’s due. Feed the passion of people who want to become the next generation of photographers.”