Prof Zanele Muholi in Conversation with Yvonne Shaff, YourLuxury Africa

Video (30:29): Yvonne Shaff, YourLuxury Africa MD in conversation with Hasselblad laureate 2026, Prof Zanele Muholi who received the award for her work documenting queer black people in South Africa.

[The copyright of the video above remains with the original holder and it is used here for the purpose of education, comparison and criticism only.]

Muholi talks about the need for documentation of people’s lives in South Africa and har creative work for the last 20 years. And the need for artists to be supported and their works are circulated so people get to see their works. She is glad that YouLuxury has one of her artworks on the cover of the lateet issue. Images must be seen not just sit on the artists harddrives. – She introduces us to her ongoing art and photography projects in South Africa. Her ongoing projects are big collaborations and some comissions all projects that is larger than life! Muholi is also working on two new publications, Faces and Phases 20 with new queer portraits from the last 20 years and a new book about her series Brave Beauties with portraits of trangender women.

YourLuxury’s cover with a photo by Zanele Muholi.

Zanele Muholi

Zanele Muholi is a visual activist, humanitarian, and art practitioner from South Africa invested in educational activism, community outreach, social work, youth development and international exhibitions. They focus on the documentation and celebration of the lives of South Africa’s Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Muholi has exhibited extensively in group shows across the globe, including at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), US; Fotografiska, New York, US; Guggenheim, New York, US; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, US; National Gallery of Victoria Triennial, Melbourne, Australia; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; LUMA, Arles, France; S.M.A.K Ghent, Belgium; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; Kulturhistorisk Museum, Oslo, Norway; The Walther Collection, Ulm, Germany; Museo Amparo, Mexico; Musée du Louvre, France, among others. Her publications include Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness (Aperture, 2018), which won the 2019 Best Photography Book Award from the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, and the follow-up Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness, Volume II (Aperture, 2024); Zanele Muholi, Faces and Phases 2006-14 (Steidl and The Walther Collection, 2014); Zanele Muholi: African Women Photographers #1 (Casa Africa and La Fábrica, 2011); Faces and Phases (Prestel, 2010); and Only Half the Picture (Stevenson, 2006).