No artist has so definitively captured the experience of Black queer life in post-apartheid South Africa as Zanele Muholi. This show at SFMOMA – their first major museum exhibition on the West Coast – traces their career with more than 100 photographs. It begins with Only Half the Picture (2002– 06) – Muholi’s first series, for which they travelled to townships across the country to document the survivors of hate crimes – and takes in their major, ongoing series of self-portraits, Somnyama Ngonyama (Zulu for ‘Hail the Dark Lioness’; 2012–present). Also on view are recent paintings, a medium Muholi begun to explore during lockdown. Find out more from SFMOMA’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
![](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/01_Zanele-Muholi_Hate-Crimes-Survivor-I_2004.jpg?resize=790%2C549)
Hate Crimes Survivor I, from the series Only Half the Picture (2004), Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson, New York; © Zanele Muholi
![](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/12_Zanele-Muholi_Zazi-I-II_Boston_2019.jpg?resize=790%2C390)
Zazi I & II, Boston (2019), Zanele Muholi. Bader + Simon Collection. © Zanele Muholi
![](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/14_Zanele-Muholi_Somile_2021.jpg?resize=790%2C1179)
Somile (2021), Zanele Muholi. Collection of Christine Mack. © Zanele Muholi
![](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/11_Zanele-Muholi_Somnyama-Ngonyama-II_Oslo_2015.jpg?resize=790%2C910)
Somnyama Ngonyama II, Oslo (2015), Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson, New York; © Zanele Muholi