Gift of John Andrew MacMahon ’95 in honor of Samuel T. Cutting ’89

Ntozakhe II, Parktown is part of Zanele Muholi’s highly acclaimed series, Somnyama Ngonyama, which translates from isiZulu as “Hail the dark lioness.” In the series, Muholi acts as both maker and subject. Photographing around the world, Muholi uses props and costumes to reinvent themself into a variety of personas – 365 in total, one for each day of the year.

To create the self-portraits, Muholi took inspiration from their community, including other Black South African queer and female individuals, as well as from the experiences of domestic workers in South Africa, including Muholi’s own mother. Muholi reimagines objects often associated with domestic labor in their representations of Black women and queer folk. Here, in Ntozakhe II, Muholi creates a crown or Afro of scouring pads. Combined with the dark, draped fabric around their shoulders and the artist’s posture—eyes lifted skyward and neck regally extended—the image evokes majesty. The artist’s decision to print the artwork nine feet tall emphasizes the grandeur; adhering it to the wall directly asserts its permanence. In this work, Muholi positions themself as Lady Liberty, honoring the lives and hardships of domestic laborers and others.

In describing their inspiration for the work, Muholi notes:
“In some ways, yes: Ntozakhe is based on the Statue of Liberty, representing the idea of freedom—the freedom all women should have—as well as pride: pride in who we are as Black, female-bodied beings. But what kind of freedom are we talking about? What is the color of the Statue of Liberty? What race is the figure monumentalized as Lady Liberty?”

In these self-portraits, Muholi challenges the history of anthropological photography that flattens and nullifies Black South African identity. They fight against the systemic violence and silence that Black South African lesbians in particular face, using their work to document—and empower—Black LGBTQIA individuals and the vital roles they have played in their community:
“I was thinking of Black women who were civil and human rights activists and criminalized for their activism, and how today so many women are prisoners in their own lives, neither free in their domestic situations nor in society at large—especially women of color.”

Bibliography

Diesel, Alleyn. Reclaiming the L-Word Sappho’s Daughters Out in Africa . Ma Thoko’s Books, 2011.

Dillon, Brian. “Zanele Muholi.” ArtReview, 4 Sept. 2017.

Kart, Susan. “Muholi, Zanele.” Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press, 20 Jan. 2016.

Kotkowska, Ela. “Somnyama Ngonyama: Photopoetry by Zanele Muholi.” Blind, 19 Aug. 2019.

Salley, Raél. “Zanele Muholi’s Elements of Survival.” African Arts, vol. 45, no. 4, James S. Coleman African Studies Center, UCLA International Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Dec. 2012, pp. 58–69.

Saner, Emine. 'Photography Saved My Life' – the Year-Long Exposure of Visual Activist Zanele Muholi.”The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 July 2017.

van der Vlies, Andrew. “Queer Knowledge and the Politics of the Gaze in Contemporary South African Photography: Zanele Muholi and Others.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, Informa UK Limited, Dec. 2012, pp. 140–56.

Zanele Muholi: Celebrating South Africa's black LGBTQIA+ community. BBC, 2020.

Strickland, Danielle, “Portrait of the Artist: John MacMahon ’95 Brings Muholi to Davidson College”, Apr. 11, 2023.