Art can sometimes take the form of political and social activism, with the artist seeking to influence a culture and society. The Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool is currently hosting the Zanele Muholi Vukani/Rise exhibition. Muholi is a self-titled "visual activist" who uses photography as her medium to communicate her message and affect the lives of people around her. All of her projects are ongoing and encourage the viewer to bear and share witness to the dehumanising of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual (LGBTI), South African community.
The exhibition includes a selection of images from four of Muholi's projects, Faces and Phases; ZaVa; Brave Beauties; and Mo(u)rning. We are first introduced to Faces and Phases, a growing collection of black and white portraits of the black South African lesbian and transgender male community. Muholi's aim is to give her participants a voice and visual presence. She works closely with each person, on location in their home, teasing out their strength, dignity and personality, which translate into their relaxed stance in front of the camera. Notable empty spaces are visible between the faces peering out at the viewer to represent those who have been lost to the aggression, intolerance and ignorance.
You are introduced to the other projects in the next room of the gallery, dominated by an image from Muholi's blog, Inkanyiso, of Nathi Dlamini after she attended the funeral of a gay man who was brutally attacked and raped by a group of men for being gay. The funeral was a celebration of the life of someone who didn't hide away and this is reflected in the larger than life, 2m plus, glamorous image of Dlamini in her eye-catching outfit.
ZaVa is a collection of intimate moments of Muholi and her partner, Valerie. Again the images are black and white with neutral backgrounds, depicting Muholi and her lover at ease and enjoying the closeness of each other. They offer the viewer an insight into their lives at rest, in contrast to the message behind the other images in this exhibition.
Brave Beauties celebrates the gay and transgender men featured in this project, emphasising their ease with their bodies and of being seen in these stylised, playful poses. Muholi wants them to be adored by the viewer, creating safety and acceptance; however, this is not their reality. Their bravery props up the beauty that is so deliberately on display.
The final project on display, Mo(u)rning, is a staged event in remembrance for those from the LGBTI community who have died through intolerance and hate crime. The images are in the main lit with soft candlelight and use a narrow range of colours, creating coherence to the collection. However, the images selected from this project stand out from the others included in the exhibition. There is an unreal and artificial quality to them, which isn’t shared with the other collections.
There is a unity amongst the images that lends itself to the community Muholi is seeking to create. That community engage with their audience through intently holding their gaze, drawing them in, not allowing them to look away from or ignore the atrocious way the participants, and many others, have been treated.
The exhibition is an interesting and thought-provoking one, although does require some time spent in the gallery perusing through the literature and watching the videos playing on the first floor to understand the narrative in full. The participants in Faces and Phases are still to be identified with their names, which would overcome a minor feeling of many faceless victims without a story, which is anything but what the project aims to portray. The gallery encourages contemplation and reflection with benches in each room where visitors can sit and absorb the messages Muholi is expressing through her photography.
14 October 2015
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