Face to Face

The Work of Four South African Fine-art Photographers Emphasises Edward Steichen’s Belief That ‘A Portrait Is Not Made in the Camera but on Either Side of It ’
 

- Layla Leiman

From the earliest daguerreotype, the self has been a favoured subject of photographers, and portraits have fascinated us with their attempts to capture beauty, stature or transience. Photography democratised the process of seeing yourself as the concrete result of an artistic vision, and we’re still not tired of the results. At the heart of portraiture is the question of identity, and many South African artists turn the lens on others or themselves to unpack troubled histories, explore personal narratives or reconstruct realities. Here are some of our finest explorers of the ever-shifting landscape that is the human face.

ZANELE MUHOLI It was her 2004 exhibition, Visual Sexuality, that brought Zanele Muholi to national prominence as she publicly showcased black female same-sex intimacy for the first time in South Africa. At the centre of her work, the artist and activist explores the implications of being black and gay in South Africa, which are all too often violent and tragic.

Her influential ongoing series, Faces and Phases, aims to create visibility for the black LGBTI community through a growing portrait archive of members in South Africa and beyond. Muholi extends this awareness to gay beauty pageant contestants in her series Brave Beauties, which celebrates the body and politics of expression through portraits. In these, Muholi acts as a documenter, allowing her subjects to present themselves according to their own self image.

She is also never afraid to turn the lens on herself to become both the creator and the subject. In Somnyama Ngonyama (meaning ‘Hail, the Dark Lioness’), Muholi presents herself as various characters, personas and archetypes, challenging the viewer to question their desire to gaze at her black figure and in turn confronting the politics of race and pigment in the photographic sphere. stevenson.info