Exhibition Type: Solo Exhibition

Artist(s): Zanele Muholi

Venue: Southern Guild

Address: Silo 5, V & A Waterfront

Opening: 18 July 2026

Exhibition End Date: 10 September 2026

Kanye Nawe is a major solo exhibition by South African visual activist and 2026 Hasselblad Award Laureate Zanele Muholi, spanning more than two decades of the artist’s practice. Occupying the gallery in its entirety, the exhibition brings together a densely configured installation of the seminal community portrait project Faces and Phases; intimate photographs from Only Half the Picture, Being, Mo(u)rning and ZaVa; new works from the ongoing self-portrait series Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness); and recent bronze sculptures.

Meaning “with you”, “alongside you”, or more broadly “oneness” in isiZulu, Kanye Nawe reflects a philosophy of shared presence that underpins Muholi’s longstanding commitment to documenting, preserving, and celebrating Black LGBTQIA+ lives while challenging historical erasure.

Opening shortly after Faces and Phases 20, an independent presentation held during the 61st Venice Biennale, the exhibition coincides with various personal and historical anniversaries that have shaped the trajectory of Muholi’s practice. Among them are 20 years since the inception of Faces and Phases (2006–ongoing), 20 years since South Africa’s Civil Union Act legalised same-sex marriage, and the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s Constitution.

Central to the exhibition is Faces and Phases, widely regarded as one of the most significant visual records of Black LGBTQIA+ lives globally. Initiated in South Africa in 2006 in response to the violence and hate crimes faced by Black Queer communities, the series sought to challenge their absence and misrepresentation within public and historical records. Since then, the project has expanded across continents, encompassing participants photographed in multiple countries. Kanye Nawe brings together early portraits made in South Africa alongside recent additions produced in London, Porto, Panama City, Los Angeles, Salvador, São Paulo, Venice, and Rio de Janeiro.

Select works from Only Half the Picture, Being, Mo(u)rning and ZaVa explore intimacy, desire, and the complexities of Queer relationships, portraying moments of tenderness and vulnerability while affirming relationships as spaces of care, solidarity, and mutual recognition.

In Somnyama Ngonyama, the artist uses their own body as a site through which histories of race, labour, gender, sexuality, and representation are examined and reclaimed. Created while travelling for exhibitions, residencies, and research, the portraits function as a form of visual journaling, responding to the places Muholi inhabits and the objects and encounters that surround them. While Faces and Phases builds a living archive of community, Somnyama Ngonyama becomes an evolving record of self-reflection. The works presented in Kanye Nawe include recent self-portraits made in Cape Town, Paternoster, London, Los Angeles, Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, and Venice.

Three large-scale bronze sculptures extend Muholi’s exploration of memory, spirituality, ancestry, and survival into three dimensions. Drawing on the body as both monument and vessel, they expand the artist’s investigation of protection and collective remembrance. Across disciplines, Muholi’s practice remains rooted in the act of bearing witness, affirming dignity, and the enduring presence of Black Queer lives.