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2010 'I'm just doing my job.' photo credit: Robert Hamblin In October 2010 the Black Empowerment businessman Kenny Kunene spent R700 000 on his 40th birthday party at the ZAR Lounge nightclub in Johannesburg, which he owns. According to reports, his party featured models, who were painted grey, strutting around in lingerie; another model was draped across a table, and party-goers nibbled sushi served on her stomach. Kunene's guests included presidential spokesman Zizi Kodwa, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, and Malema's spokesman, Floyd Shivambu. A few days later, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi lashed out at "the BEE types who blow up to R700 000 in one night on parties", calling them members of the "predatory elite", which elicited a intense debate around the morality of the celebration. In response to this event, Muholi has photographed herself as one of the models. She has titled the work 'I am just doing my job', which was the answer one of the models offered when questioned after the event. |
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In Faces and Phases , I continue to document and explore black lesbian identities through portraiture, where the participants are photographed in their various domiciles. One of our collective painful experiences as a community is the loss of friends and acquaintances through disease or hate crimes. Some of these participated in my visual projects. What is left behind now is the individuals' portraits that works as a site of memory for us, as a trace of 'who and what existed' in a particular space at this particular moment when our black lesbian and South African histories intersect. More... Artist statements... |
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In the Being series (2007) I interrogate black lesbian relationships and safer sex. On the surface, the visuals capture couples in intimate positions and moments showing their love for each other. However, deeper within these I wish to highlight how HIV/AIDS prevention programming has failed women who have sex with other women. More... |
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In my latest project "Massa" and Mina(h) ( 2008), I turn my own black body into a subject of art. I allow various photographers to capture my image as directed by me. I use performativity to deal with the still racialized issues of female domesticity-black women doing house work for white families. The project is based on the life and story of my mother. I draw on my own memories, and pay tribute to her domesticated role as a (domestic)worker for the same family for 42 years. The series is also meant to acknowledge all domestic workers around the globe who continue to labour with dignity, while often facing physical, financial, and emotional abuses in their place of work. There continues to be little recognition and little protection from the state for the hard labour these women perform to feed and clothe and house their families. More... |
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