Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Complete press kit and images

Milan, March 30 2023 – For ten years Zanele Muholi (Umlazi, South Africa 1972) - one of the most interesting voices in visual activism - has been among the most celebrated contemporary artists. But Muholi likes to define himself as an activist, even before being an artist. A leading ambassador of the LGBTQIA+ community, her art investigates issues such as racism, Eurocentrism, feminism and sexual politics, and is constantly transforming. 

His expressive means are sculpture, painting, the moving image, but it is with photography, and in particular with the series of self-portraits – begun in 2012 and still ongoing – "Somnyama Ngonyama" (Hail, black lioness) , which Muholi receives worldwide acclaim in a crescendo of exhibitions in the most prestigious museums in the world: from the Tate modern in London to personal exhibitions at the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg (2012), at the Brooklyn museum, New York (2015) at the Stedelijk museum, Amsterdam (2017), at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires (2018), just to name a few. 

"Muholi. A visual activist" is the project through which the Museum of Cultures of Milan (Mudec) brings to Italy a selection - curated by Biba Giacchetti and the artist - of over 60 images ranging from the very first self-portraits to the most recent works.

The exhibition, which opens to the public on Friday 31 March 2023, is promoted by the Municipality of Milan - Culture, produced by 24 Ore Cultura - Gruppo 24 Ore in collaboration with Sudest57, and sees the Deloitte Foundation as its institutional partner.