Created to accompany one of the most exciting exhibitions of 2020, this stunning paperback catalogue presents the full breadth of Muholi’s photographic and activist practice.

Richly illustrated, it includes images from the key series Muholi has produced over the past twenty years, as well as never-before-published and recent works. The exhibition book also features six newly commissioned essays exploring their work, as well as a full glossary and chronology.

Born in South Africa, Zanele Muholi came to prominence in the early 2000s with photographs that sought to envision black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex lives beyond deviance or victimhood. Muholi’s work challenges hetero-patriarchal ideologies and representations, presenting the participants in their photographs as confident and beautiful individuals bravely existing in the face of prejudice, intolerance and, frequently, violence. While Muholi’s intimate photographs of others launched their international career, their intense self-portraits solidified it.

Sarah Allen is Assistant Curator at Tate Modern.

Yasufumi Nakamori is Senior Curator, International Art at Tate Modern.