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Nosipho 'Brown' Solundwana, Parktown, Johnannesburg

Photograph
2007 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Zanele Muholi's work addresses the sexual and gender identity of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, and transgender in South Africa by challenging the traditional documentary of black LGBTQIA+ people in photography. In the series Faces and Phases, Muholi aims to reflect a more representative society by photographing individuals across the spectrum from soccer player to dancer, a scholar to a human rights activist. Having been excluded from any formal gay rights movement until post-Apartheid, Muholi attempts to address the issues of violation and prejudice these communities still face.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Nosipho 'Brown' Solundwana, Parktown, Johnannesburg (assigned by artist)
  • Faces and Phases (series title)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin silver print
Brief description
Gelatin silver print photographic portrait, 'Nosipho 'Brown' Solundwana, Parktown, Johannesburg' from the series 'Faces and Phases', by Zanele Muholi, Johanneburg, 2007
Physical description
Black and white gelatin silver print portrait of a woman with a shaved head standing in front of a cloth backdrop holding her left wrist with her right hand, looking out toward the viewer
Dimensions
  • Paper height: 86.5cm
  • Paper width: 60.5cm
  • Image height: 76.5cm
  • Image width: 50.5cm
Production typeLimited edition
Copy number
4/8
Gallery label
Known and Strange: Photographs from the Collection (2021-2022) Photography Centre, Gallery 101 Zanele Muholi (born 1972) Nosipho 'Brown' Solundwana, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2007 Sosi Molotsane, Yeoville, Johannesburg, 2007 Bakhambile Skhosana, Natalspruit, 2010 Amogelang Senokwane, District Six, Cape Town, 2009 From the series Faces and Phases, 2007–10 Muholi’s work exposes the persistent violence and discrimination faced by the South African Black LGBTQIA+ community. Describing themself as a visual activist, for this ongoing series, Muholi photographed over 300 Black people living in South Africa who identify as lesbian, queer, trans or gender non-conforming. The portraits and their accompanying testimonies celebrate and empower each participant and, in Muholi’s words, are ‘a visual statement and an archive, marking, mapping and preserving an often invisible community for posterity’. Gelatin silver prints Museum nos. E.426-2011 to E.429-2011
Credit line
Michael Stevenson gallery, Cape Town, 2011
Object history
Included in exhibition 'Figures & Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography' at the V&A, 12 April - 17 July 2011.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Zanele Muholi's work addresses the sexual and gender identity of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, and transgender in South Africa by challenging the traditional documentary of black LGBTQIA+ people in photography. In the series Faces and Phases, Muholi aims to reflect a more representative society by photographing individuals across the spectrum from soccer player to dancer, a scholar to a human rights activist. Having been excluded from any formal gay rights movement until post-Apartheid, Muholi attempts to address the issues of violation and prejudice these communities still face.
Bibliographic references
  • Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography Germany: Steidl, 2011 image appears on page 188/189
  • The following excerpt is from a blog written by the sitter on their life experiences, identity, and work with Muholi. It was posted online on May 18th 2015 at www.inkanyiso.org, a website conceptualized by Muholi in 2006 as a platform for Queer activism and media: 'My name is Nosipo Gloria Solundwana, also known as SPHOLA. I am a 27-year-old ‘butch’ lesbian living on the East-Rand, in Katlehong. I live with my four siblings and I am the first born at home. I lost my mother in 2007 and my stepfather in 2009. My biological father is still alive but I don’t exist in his world. He abandoned my mother and me in 1988 when he found out that I was born as an intersex. My mother struggled a lot with raising me all alone. It wasn’t easy for her, people laughed at her because she had an intersex child. She named me Nosipo because she believed I was her Gift. She told me that I was the second known child in South Africa who was born in that situation, went for an operation and survived. I am truly grateful for the life she gave me. I met with Zanele Muholi at the age of 18, that’s where I started taking pictures with her and she encouraged me to finish my secondary level. She asked me ‘what do I want to do when I finish school’, I said I don’t know because I was confused and had lost hope. I gave up my life and took drugs like nobody’s business, hanging out with bad guys, mugging people’s belongings, touched guns- it was really a dangerous life that I had chosen. I survived all that thanks to the Lord. Now all I want is to achieve my goals and dreams. I want to be a successful businesswoman who owns a pub. All I need is a good start and I think I’ll need a mentor as well. I do have business skills. I am willing to move forward because I believe the hard-life I’ve been through gave me strength and positivity.'
Collection
Accession number
E.428-2011

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Record createdAugust 22, 2011
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