Kanye Nawe

Kanye Nawe is a major solo exhibition by Sir Zanele Muholi that brings together landmark photographic series and recent bronze sculptures spanning more than two decades of the artist’s practice. These bodies of work trace Muholi’s sustained commitment to visual activism and reshape contemporary understandings of Black Queer visibility, intimacy, self-representation, and community.

The exhibition’s title is an isiZulu phrase meaning “with you,” “alongside you,” or, in its broadest sense, “oneness.” I initially believed this to be a simple translation. That changed during a conversation with Muholi across time zones, while I was in Valencia for the Gay Games and they were in Mexico City for World Pride – both of us continuing the work of archiving Queer lives. When I asked about the title’s meaning, Muholi responded by singing a gospel melody familiar to many Black mothers in moments of mourning and joy, prompting laughter and tears over the phone. In that moment, the title transcended language, revealing a deep sonic and ancestral resonance, and a philosophy of shared presence that anchors Muholi’s practice in collective authorship and acts of solidarity. Across its diverse formats, the exhibition unfolds through this spirit of togetherness, suggesting that identity is forged through continual exchange with ancestry, place, and those around us.

Central to the exhibition istheportraiture series, Faces and Phases (2006–ongoing). Conceived as a counter-narrative to the enduring legacies of colonialism and Apartheid, the project responds to what Gabeba Baderoon, drawing on Pumla Gqola, describes as “hostile visibility”[1]: the contradiction between progressive constitutional protections and the persistent violence faced by Black Queer people. Muholi initiated the project in 2006 – a watershed year marked by the passage of South Africa’s Civil Union Act, which legalised same-sex marriage.

Source: Southern Guild Website