Creation From the Somnyama Ngonyama series: Sine IV, Melbourne, Australia

Muholi Zanele, 2020

Sine IV, Melbourne, Australia (2020) belongs to the Somnyama Ngonyama series — 'Hail the Dark Lioness' in Zulu — that Zanele Muholi has been developing since 2012. In this series of strikingly intense black-and-white self-portraits, the artist stages themselves in various locations around the world, using everyday objects — cables, latex gloves, hair rollers — transformed into politically charged attributes. By amplifying the contrast of their skin, Muholi confronts colonial history, the representation of the Black body in Western imagery, and the systemic violence endured by Black and LGBTQIA+ people. Each portrait is an act of resistance and self-affirmation. This photograph was presented as part of the exhibition 'Géologie des âmes' at the Fondation Thalie's Arles space in 2025.

Muholi Zanele

South African visual artist and activist born in 1972, Zanele Muholi defines themselves as a visual activist and has been documenting the lives and bodies of Black LGBTQIA+ people in South Africa since the early 2000s. Their series Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness) invokes colonial history and systemic violence through intense black-and-white self-portraits. Muholi is recognised as one of the most committed and celebrated artistic voices in the world today.