en

South Africa, Chromatic Existences: Zanele Muholi & Pieter Hugo

  • France
  • 2014
  • en
  • [cc]
  • 14'

In South Africa, crimes against lesbians are rife. Photographer Zanele Muholi pointed her camera at them, as well as black transsexual s, and turned it into a lifetime project to showcase their existence. Pieter Hugo, when his first child was born, wondered what it meant to live in South Africa. How do black history and white history co-exist today? What is the aftermath of apartheid?

South Africa, Chromatic Existences: Zanele Muholi & Pieter Hugo
Watch the trailer

Synopsis

In South Africa, crimes against lesbians are rife. Photographer Zanele Muholi pointed her camera at them, as well as black transsexual s, and turned it into a lifetime project to showcase their existence. Pieter Hugo, when his first child was born, wondered what it meant to live in South Africa. How do black history and white history co-exist today? What is the aftermath of apartheid?

What you will find in this film

A visual activist • A black photographer who was able to impose her art • Portraits of the invisible in South African society • The photographer guiding her model • A dignified look at identity • Photography as a political act • The need for images as models • A modern look at post-apartheid society • Looking to be seen • The contemporary shadow of the racial question • Photographing to talk about society as it is • Photographing as a political act

Keywords

Colour Women photographers Social photography Portrait
I document black lesbians and black trans people. It's just a way in which I'm stressing people's existence and how they could take back power and confront you.
My relationship with photography is closer to sculpture than it is to painting. I like the grit, the texture of reality.

Film chapters

summary00:00 Look at me - Zanele Muholi

summary03:26 Building a visual identity

summary07:43 Kin

summary09:52 White and African?

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Linked Articles

The authors/artists

Zanele Muholi
Photographer
Pieter Hugo
Photographer
Nathalie Masduraud et Valérie Urréa
Directors

Further exploration

Bibliography

Resources

Instagram

• SOMNYAMA NGONYAMA, SALUT A TOI, LIONNE NOIRE ! - artist: Zanele Muholi ; 2021 ; Delpire & co ; French

• ZANELE MUHOLI - with Sarah Allen ; 2020 ; Tate Gallery 

• ZANELE MUHOLI : FACES AND PHASES 2006-2014 - 2014 ; Steidl Verlag 

• ZANELE MUHOLI : ONLY HALF THE PICTURE - 2006 ; STE Publishers 

• ZANELE MUHOLI - 1999 ; La Fabrica 

• PIETER HUGO : 1994 - 2017 ; Prestel 

• FLAT NOODLE SOUP TALK - artist: Pieter Hugo ; 2016 ; Editions Bessard 

• KIN - artist: Pieter Hugo ; 2015 ; Aperture

• PIETER HUGO : THIS MUST BE THE PLACE - 2012 ; Prestel 

• PERMANENT ERROR - artist: Pieter Hugo ; 2011 ; Prestel 

• NOLLYWOOD - artist: Pieter Hugo ; 2009 ; Prestel 

• PIETER HUGO : BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA - directed by Ralf Beil and Uta Ruhkamp ; 1999 ; Prestel 

• THE HYENA AND OTHER MEN - artist: Pieter Hugo ; 1999 ; Prestel

Zanele Muholi On Resistance - Aperture Article

Zanele Muholi - Aware Women Artists Article

Zanele Muholi - Fondation Louis Vuitton Collection

Zanele Muholi - Stevenson Gallery

Pieter Hugo's website

Pieter Hugo : Kin - Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson 2015

Pieter Hugo : Être Présent - Rencontres d’Arles 2021

I’m Finished When I start Looking at the World in a Different Way - New York Times Article

Chromatic Existences - Page Facebook