Touring Exhibit By South African Visual Activist Zanele Muholi Coming To Jacksonville

From The JAX Chamber:

March 4, 2021

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is proud to present Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail The Dark Lioness, an internationally touring exhibition organized by Autograph, London and curated by Renée Mussai. The Museum will be the final venue for this exhibition in the United States. In more than 80 self-portraits, celebrated visual activist Zanele Muholi (South African, b. 1972) uses their body as a canvas to confront the deeply personal politics of race and representation in the visual archive. Their ongoing series Somnyama Ngonyama, which translates to ‘Hail The Dark Lioness’ from isiZulu, one of the official languages of South Africa, playfully employs the conventions of classical painting, fashion photography and the familiar tropes of ethnographic imagery to rearticulate contemporary identity politics. Each black and white self-portrait asks critical questions about social (in)justice, human rights and contested representations of the Black body.

Muholi states, “I’m reclaiming my blackness, which I feel is continuously performed by the privileged other. My reality is that I do not mimic being Black; it is my skin, and the experience of being Black is deeply entrenched in me. Just like our ancestors, we live as Black people 365 days a year, and we should speak without fear.”

Throughout the series, the dark complexion of Muholi’s skin (intensified through enhanced contrast applied in post-production) becomes the focal point of a profound, multilayered interrogation of beauty, pride, desire, self-care, well-being and the many interlinked phobias and isms navigated daily such as homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, racism and sexism, to name but a few.

“Zanele Muholi’s visually arresting self-portraits compel viewers to consider timely topics such as contrast, dignity, solidarity, difference, history and activism in meaningful ways,” said Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., the Museum’s George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and Chief Executive Officer. “Each one invites deep looking and, ultimately, encourages viewers to ask themselves critical questions about empathy, courage and the power of each and every voice.”

The exhibition features photographs taken between 2012 - 2019 in cities across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Muholi's socially-engaged, radical brand of self-portraiture transforms found objects and quotidian materials into dramatic and historically loaded props, merging the political with the personal, aesthetics with history — often commenting on specific events in South Africa’s past, as well as urgent global concerns pertinent to our present times: scouring pads and latex gloves address themes of domestic servitude while alluding to sexual politics, cultural violence and the often-suffocating prisms of gendered identities. Rubber tires, cable ties or electrical cords invoke forms of social brutality and exploitation; sheets of plastic and polythene draw attention to environmental issues and global waste, while accessories like cowrie shells and beaded fly whisks highlight Western fascinations with clichéd, exoticized representations of African cultures and people.

Gazing defiantly at the camera, Muholi challenges viewers’ perceptions while firmly asserting their cultural and sexual identity on their own terms.

Renée Mussai, exhibition curator and Autograph’s Senior Curator and head of Curatorial & Collections, explains that Somnyama Ngonyama presents “a compelling and visionary mosaic of identities, an exquisite empire of selves. Inviting us into a multilayered, visceral conversation, each photograph in the series, each visual inscription, each confrontational narrative depicts a self in profound dialogue with countless others: implicitly gendered, non-conforming, culturally complex and historically grounded Black bodies. It’s a great privilege and honour to be working with the Cooper Gallery again, after numerous curatorial collaborations over the years, to present the work of one of Africa’s most celebrated and courageous contemporary artists – especially poignant considering the current socio-cultural climate globally.”

Exhibition Host Committee: The Museum’s Exhibition Host Committee is a group of art and culture enthusiasts interested in bringing our community together to create meaningful experiences with one another. The committee comprises Kimberly Allen, Julia Baker, Andrea and Byron Boston, Caroline Brinton, Nancy Broner, Shawana Brooks, Lory Doolittle, Cindy Edelman, Rachel Tutwiler Fortune, Charles B. Garrison, Ric Goodman and John Hurtubise, Dr. Diana L. Greene, Stephanie Henderson, Branitta and Eric Mann, Velma Monteiro-Tribble, Audrey Moran, Erica Paul, Pam Y. Paul, Sabeen Perwaiz and Asghar Syed, Joni Poiter, Elaine and Jim Stallings, Julie Stanford, Julia and John Taylor, Angela Timberlake, Adonnica Toler, Nina Waters, Cindy Watson and Ellie Zimmerman. Exhibition Season Presenter: Lory C. Doolittle Exhibition Sponsors: City of Jacksonville, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, Director’s Circle Donors at the Cummer Museum, State of Florida, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, The Robert D. and Isabelle T. Davis Endowment, The Schultz Family Endowment, and The Winston Family Foundation.

Related Programming: Advance registration is required for all Museum events. Capacity for on-site events will be limited to ensure a safe and fun experience. For additional event details and register to participate, visit cummermuseum.org.

• Mobile Photography Studio in the Gardens Sat., April 24 | 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free with Museum admission
• Gallery Walk with the Director Thurs., May 6 | 6 to 7:30 p.m. Members $50, Non-Members $60
• Poetry Slam Night Fri., May 21 | 7 to 8 p.m. Presented as part of PNC Bank Free Fridays
• A Socially Distanced Dance Party in the Gardens with Geexella Fri., June 4 | 6 to 9 p.m. Presented as part of PNC Bank Free Fridays

This press release was produced by The JAX Chamber. The views expressed here are the author’s own.