Cape Town, 5 August--10 September 2010

Unforgotten Faces by Zanele Muholi and Ellen Eisenman

For Artscape Women’s Festival 2010, Zanele Muholi and Ellen Eisenman have produced a collection of photographs that celebrate women’s lives. They recognize and honor the living as well as those who have left the planet. And they question, why does society allow some to be taken away so early and with such violence?  These are Unforgotten Faces.

The artists' collaboration began in 2008, as they began to share ideas, images, questions, and challenges.  Included in the exhibit are portraits of women; in addition, Muholi and Eisenman have together created a series of stamps, acknowledging Black Womyn of South Africa, especially in honor of Busi Sigasa, Nosizwe Cekiso, Eudy Simelane,  and Penny Fish .    Zanele and Ellen hope that their work stimulates a discussion about hidden histories--unexamined stories that so influence many women’s daily lives.   In order to honor life, let us see all of life, and to question the brutality of how many lesbians are dying.

About her portraits, Zanele Muholi has said, "In the face of all the challenges our community encounters daily, I embarked on a journey of visual activism to ensure that there is black queer visibility. It is important to mark, map and preserve our mo(ve)ments through visual histories for reference and posterity so that future generations will note that we were here.
In my portraits, I present our existence and resistance through positive imagery of black queers (especially lesbians) in South African society and beyond. I show our aesthetics through portraiture. Historically, portraits serve as memorable records for lovers, family and friends.

"The viewer is invited to contemplate questions such as: what does an African lesbian look like? Is there a lesbian aesthetic or do we express our gendered, racialised and classed selves in rich and diverse ways? Is this lesbian more 'authentic' than that lesbian because she wears a tie and the other does not? Is this a man or a woman? Is this a transman? Can you identify a rape survivor by the clothes she wears?

"These portraits present an insider's perspective that both commemorates and celebrates the lives of the black queers I have met in my journeys. Some of their stories gave me sleepless nights as I tried to process the struggles that were told to me. Many of the women I met had been violated and I endeavoured not to exploit them further through my work. I set out to establish relationships with them based on a mutual understanding of what it means to be female, lesbian and black today. "

Ellen Eisenman's portraits are tributes to cultural workers--people who have committed a large part of their lives to working for progressive social and cultural change.  They are from various walks of life and take up many different issues, from leading community groups to practicing the arts for social change, from organizing demonstrations to supporting youth groups.  This multi-year project began in South Africa in 2009, and continues in the U.S.The goal of the work is to contribute to a larger understanding of social change and of the many different people who live their lives working for change. 

At the core of any democratic society must be engaged citizens who organize politically in their own communities and who willingly and boldly cross the cultural borders that set us against each other.  Otherwise, these borders between races, classes, sexualities, national boundaries, and gender expressions will increasingly fragment us into ever-smaller communities.  It seems that the forces of division and against progressive social change are growing stronger and isolating us from one another.  Now more than ever, we need to recognize and support those cultural workers who are deeply committed to progressive social change and who work against these dominant trends.

visit to Gugulective

when my partner, e Frances White, and i visited South Africa in April, we had not yet met Liesl Theron and Pamella Dlungwana, but had been introduced to them via email by our friends Zanele Muholi and Gabi Ngcobo.  one Saturday, Liesl and Pam took us to visit Gugulective, a fantastic artists' collective in Gugulethu township.  we were hosted by Unathi Sigenu, shown here with a mural painted by him and and another member of the collective, Dathini Mzayiya.

Gulgulective creates exhibits, installations, performances, video screenings, community discussions in the midst of a community far from the art galleries of Cape Town. Gugulective, based at the KwaMlamli shebeen, is a gathering place where everyone gathers to learn from one another.

learn more at gugulective.net

portraits

an engrossing new project is to make portraits of cultural workers, people from various walks of life who are committed to progressive social change--they may be helping create community gardens, organizing demonstrations, leading groups, or practicing the arts for the social good.  i'm rediscovering photos i shot many years ago of folks who have done this important work, and now, am meeting, interviewing, and photographing contemporary workers.  current work on the portraits project began when i received the Arts International Residency Grant from the Augusta Savage Gallery in Amherst, MA, making it possible for me to visit Cape Town, South Africa in April 2009.

Grace Paley, 1985

photographic narratives, the beginning, 1980

my first large-scale work measured 7' x 9' and was a tribute to the writer James Baldwin.  i live in new york city, so space constraints mean i can only do larger works by commission.

pictured is the installation of a quilt for James Baldwin at the Franklin University Gallery in 1980.

expert witnesses

Combines images of students, Denver 1969, Chicano Youth Conference, and a man mixing concrete in Costa Rica 2004.archival photos, thread, beads, nails 32"w x 25"h 2008

working hands

Combines images of a potter, a story-telling barber, a gardener, a rag-factory worker, people walking, reflections in a thrift shop window. archival photos, thread, beads, nails 36"w x 32"h 2006