Artist Talk: Zanele Muholi

Denison’s Studio Art program welcomes Vail visiting artist Zanele Muholi.

Artist and visual activist, Muholi records the lives of black lesbian women in South Africa through photography, installation, and video, seeking to illuminate the contradictions of life in a country that recognizes the legality of same-sex marriages but is plagued by hate crimes and intolerance for LGBTI individuals. She has won a number of prestigious awards for her work including a Jean-Pail Blachère award and the Casa Africa award for best female photographer living in Africa at the 2009 Rencontres de Bamako African Photography Biennial; the Index on Censorship – Freedom of Expression arts award (2013); the Fine Prize for an emerging artist at the 2013 Carnegie International; and a Prince Claus Award (2013).

Muholi’s work has been featured in important exhibitions including the 55th Venice Biennale, Documenta 13, the 29th Sao Paulo Biennial, Les Rencontres d’Arles, France, and Les Rencontres de Bamako African Photography Biennial, Mali, and at institutions including the V & A Museum, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; Schwules Museum, Berlin; Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg; the Walther Collection, Ulm; Menil Collection, Houston; and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena, Italy.

Visit sponsored by Studio Art, Art History and Visual Culture, Queer Studies, Black Studies and The Ohio State University.