Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance Gallery Guide

Katlego Mashiloane and Nosipho Lavuta, Ext. 2, Lakeside, Johannesburg, 2007

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This square color photograph features two nude figures with medium-dark skin standing at the center. They are seen in profile from the knees up, facing each other. The person to our right stands upright with their hands raised over their face, with their arms bent and slightly covering their breasts. Their head is slightly raised, and their black hair is loosely braided and held in a high ponytail. The person to our left is slightly bent over toward the other person to our right. Their arm closest to the viewer extends across their body toward the hip of the other nude person. As they lean over, their exposed breasts hang downward. The leg closest to the viewer is bent over their other leg as if they closely look at their unseen ankle. Behind them is a bed covered with a blue and white floral patterned blanket. One white and one green pillow stacked together are partially rendered at the edge of the photograph. In the somewhat blurry background is a dull, yellow brick wall.

Katlego Mashiloane and Nosipho Lavuta, Ext. 2, Lakeside, Johannesburg, 2007

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This square print of a color photograph is an image of two people with medium-dark skin seated next to each other on a concrete floor leaning against a light yellow brick wall, their bodies facing us. They smile broadly with their heads turned to our right, as if reacting to something we can not see outside of the frame. A light source from our right illuminates their faces and bodies and casts a shadow on the edge of the left side of this image. They are bare-foot with their bare knees bent upward. Their legs are entwined such that the person to our right’s right leg hooks under their companion’s left leg. The person on our right has tightly braided short black hair and wears a white tank top and blue shorts. They wear a bracelet on their left arm that rests lightly on their left bent knee. Faint scars are visible on their right shoulder, and their right arm appears to be holding the right hand of their companion in that person’s lap. The person to our left smiles, mouth slightly open. Their short black hair is close to their head and they have a small ball-shaped white earring in their right ear. They wear a white lace bra-like top and white shorts. Their left arm is under their companion’s right arm and their left hand rests on their bent left knee. Their right arm is angled across their body to hold the hand of their companion.

Katlego Mashiloane and Nosipho Lavuta, Ext. 2, Lakeside, Johannesburg, 2007

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This square print of a color photograph shows two seated people with medium-dark skin kissing on the right side of the scene. The left half of the scene features a huge, old, cooking stove with a metal plate in the center that says "JEWEL" in capital letters. The stove is painted a cream color with forest green trim. The paint is badly chipped and the body of the stove rusted. The lower of the two doors is askew. The right edge of the stove makes a vertical line that bisects the composition. The upper and lower ovens form two inanimate rectangular masses that create a shallow diagonal from left to right, leading to the kissing couple. The person on the far right and in the foreground is seated on the lap of the other person. Their faces are in profile facing each other, touching lips. They both wear stark white shirts and their lower legs are bare. The foregrounded person has their bare knees slightly parted with one hand dangling between them pointing to her Mary Jane shoes that are the color of the stove trim. Those legs are enclosed by the spread knees of the person on whose lap they sit. That person is partially hidden. They wear an indigo blue knit cap covering their hair, blue jeans that end loosely just below their knees, and pink and white sneakers. Their right cheek appears to rest on the top right edge of the stove. Their bare forearms loosely embrace the other person at the waist. The couple’s four knees are almost aligned and their three visible hands make the same gesture: a limp wrist with an index finger that points toward the floor. On the far right, there is a tall pale yellow cabinet.

Katlego Mashiloane and Nosipho Lavuta, Ext. 2, Lakeside, Johannesburg, 2007

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This square print of a color photograph depicts two thin nude figures with medium-dark skin bathing together in a shallow light blue metal basin. They are in a dull-colored brick-walled room, with white bedding in front of them barely visible in the foreground. Natural light enters from our far left and highlights their backs and shoulders, as they bend forward and dip sponges into the soapy water pooled around their ankles. The basin comes up to their calves. The figure to our right has their short black locs tied into a ponytail, wears one black bracelet on their left wrist, and has wet skin up until their ribcage and spine. Their left breast and nipple are shown in profile. The figure on the left has short, straightened black hair and their body is partially obscured by the other figure's body. Their right arm is blurred, as if in motion inside the washbasin. On the dresser to our left, green cloth covers the surface, which is topped in a plate of candles, bottles, and other blurry objects. Tucked in the corner of the room behind the dresser is a structure of some sort that seems to hold clothes on hangers.

Miss D’vine II, 2007

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This square print of a color photograph shows a slender person with medium-dark skin who stands just right of the center, amidst a trodden down straw path. They look out ahead of them and to our left, and their lips are softly closed. Their expression is emotionless and serious. Their short black hair looks straightened and held back by an unseen headband. They wear small golden earrings and a dark blue or black dress, which falls to their center thigh. The bodice of the dress is frilled and textured and shows much of the wearer's collarbone and shoulders. Their dress skirt has two layers, one opaque and one textured and transparent atop it. The person holds the dress skirt wide at each side of their body, and and they have a dark red mark on their left shin below the knee. They wear bright red, shiny high heels, and this color brings to attention some of the litter around them along the earthy path. Their dark skin and dress contrast sharply against the clear light blue sky, which holds a layer of haze closest to the straw field. The gradient of the sky moves from hazy gray to sky blue. In the background to the right of the figure, a fuzzy white building structure and a person in dark clothing standstill.

Miss D’vine I, 2007

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This square print of a color photograph shows a person with medium-dark skin who sits squarely in the center of the scene. They sit in a bare patch of pale yellow ground with a straw field close behind them. The blue sky is clear of clouds above them, with a gradient of light blue to light cerulean blue. The person sits almost L-shaped, with their hands on the ground and arms propping up their torso, legs overlapped, with knees pointed to our right. They wear very little, including small gold hooped earrings, seven thick bangles around their neck in white, green, golden yellow, red, and blue, a multicolored beaded belt with vertical strands falling over their thigh, and bright red high heels. A slight hint of black cloth shows through the vertical strand of beads. They look out directly at the viewer with a serious, closed-lip expression. A prominent scar or birthmark on their left shin glistens in the sun, and the sunlight draws attention to their sharp collarbones, shoulder blades, and thin chest.

Mellissa Mbambo, Durban South Beach, 2017

Photograph, inkjet print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This rectangular vertical print of a color photograph shows a tall, thin person with medium-dark skin wearing an orange and black floral bikini standing at the shoreline in the center. They wear an emerald green head wrap and large hoop earrings. A white sash with a red border is draped from their right shoulder to their left hip with this wording in black: "Miss GAY RSA, 2nd RUNNER UP." They wear a white cape tied around their neck and they hold it with their outstretched right arm so that it billows out and down to the sandy shore. In their left hand, they hold up an open, rainbow-colored striped umbrella behind them. Walking along the shoreline to our right is a group of three dark-skinned people wearing dark shorts and backpacks. One person has tied shoes hanging from their necks over their chest. The top half of the background is dominated by a bird’s-egg blue sky, with a narrow strip of the deeper blue ocean with white, foamy waves, and a band of light brown sand. The large puddle of ocean water at the bottom half of the photograph reflects the scene described above as a mirror image. In the reflection, the images and colors are diffused and blurred.

Nathi Dlamini at the After Tears of Muntu Masombuka’s funeral, Kwa Thema, Springs, Johannesburg, 2014

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This rectangular vertical print of a color photograph shows a person with dark skin standing on a tree trunk plinth in front of a vivid red-orange wall. They are positioned in a strong contrapposto pose with their arms akimbo and their weight on their jutting left hip. They wear tight-fitting pale blue pants, a long sleeve, form-fitting brilliant white buttoned shirt, red platform spike heels with thin yellow straps, a thin yellow hip belt, and many strands of waist-length silver beads and oversized gold chains. Their yellow hair is very closely cropped. Their gaze is obscured by large, square amber-tinted sunglasses decorated with a long gold chain. Their neon pink painted lips reveal both upper and lower teeth in an ambiguous half smile. Their cone shaped gold earrings brush their shirt collar and almost touch their shoulders. They wear a wide cuff bracelet on their left wrist. Their skinny-legged, pale blue jeans wrinkle at the knees and ankles and lead to brown feet with turquoise painted nails. The orange-red painted wall behind them is scarred and chipped and has an area on the far left painted with faded white broad strokes.

Jabu Radebe, Yeoville, Johannesburg, 2006

Photograph, C-print on paper

Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/Johannesburg

This square color photograph shows a person with medium-dark skin at the center sitting on a large rock on brown rocky ground. They are oriented to our left with their head turned to face us. They have dark brown eyes, a wide nose, full lips, and a thin faint mustache. Their dark black hair is styled in tight locs and they stare intently outward. They wear a red, transparent ribbony scarf tied about their shoulders and white, low-rise, wide-legged pants. They cross their right leg over their left and their feet are bare. Their arm closest to the viewer rests on the rock and their other arm is draped softly across their lap.