Zanele Muholi, an acclaimed photographer and activist whose work celebrates queer black experiences in South Africa and beyond, has won the Hasselblad Prize, the world’s leading photography award, worth SEK 2,000,000 (approximately US$218,000).
As part of the award, Muholi will receive a solo exhibition at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, Sweden, and an accompanying publication. The exhibition opened on October 10 and will remain on display until April 24, 2027.
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Muholi, a self-described “visual activist,” was born in South Africa in 1972 under the apartheid regime, a system of oppression that continues into the artist’s portraiture, which is both tender and driven by political urgency. Rendered in soft grayscale and dramatic lighting, Muholi’s subjects often engage the viewer’s gaze. They seem almost monumental, emblematic of stories that have been left out of South Africa’s popular imagination.
talking art news In 2018, Muholi described their desire to illuminate the diverse history that underpins South Africa. “They are the makers of history,” Muholi said, referring to their collaborators — activists, drag performers and young, hopeful artists — who are often pushed to the margins by bigotry.
“I’m not just taking photos for the sake of fine art, I’m making content that speaks to the visual history of South Africa and a group of people who won’t be written down in history simply because of the way they express themselves,” they added. “That includes me, so I’m making content that’s made by us, for us, about us, rather than relying on other so-called experts.”
The Hasselblad Foundation writes in its citation that Zanele Muholi’s photographs are “formally striking, using composition, color, greyscale, and light to create a masterful visual language that is at once powerful and vulnerable.” The foundation continues, saying their portraits challenge “prejudice and discrimination while creating alternative visual histories…making Muholi a central figure in global queer visual culture.”
The Hasselblad Awards ceremony will take place on October 9th, followed by an artist talk on October 13th at Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
In a statement shared by the Hasselblad Foundation, Muholi said: “This award is not just mine. I receive this award along with the many faces, names, and histories that trust me to tell their stories. From Umlazi to every space where Black LGBTQIA+ people continue to fight to live freely, this recognition affirms that our lives deserve to be seen — not as statistics, not as shadows, but as full human beings.”
