As ‘Kanye Nawe’ opens at Southern Guild, the internationally acclaimed visual activist reflects on 20 years of ‘Faces and Phases’, the politics of remembrance and why preserving black lives is an act of love Kaanye naawee, Nkoosi yaami!/ Kanye nawe, Nkosi yami!/ Mangi-hamb imihla yonke… Sang Zanele Muholi. Beautifully.
Much to my shock. Until earlier this week, I did not know this version of Zanele Muholi existed. Like much of the world, I had known Muholi as a world-renowned, award-winning, photographer whose uncompromising images have reshaped how black queer lives are seen.
Their singer side caught me off guard. Kanye Nawe,a hymn known to generations of black South Africans raised in mainline churches, lends its name to Muholi’s latest solo exhibition that opens at Southern Guild Cape Town on Saturday, 18 July 2026. The title serves as a reminder that long before art galleries, biennales and museums came pews, choirs and Sunday mornings.
Read Full Article on Mail & Guardian
[paywall]
Back then Muholi’s work was almost exclusively through the lens of lesbian activism. It was urgent, confrontational and necessary in a country where black queer existence was too often met with silence or violence. Today, the mission is bigger.
It is to appeal to human beings to be human. The vocabulary too has evolved. Muholi gently interrupted me every time I reached for the word “lesbian”.
“LGBTQIA+, how do we express this acronym in our own languages? Perhaps, abantu bomlilo ofanayo [people who share the same fire]? We are dealing with more than gender here.
We are talking about human beings. Who you sleep with and what organ touches which is irrelevant. Abantu babekade bethandana.
People have always loved one another. Abantu bayathandana. As long as bengabulali muntu [they are not killing anyone] let people love one another,” Muholi said.
For two decades Muholi has documented the lives society has preferred not to see; not because queer South Africans did not exist but because history repeatedly chose not to remember them. Which is whyKanye Nawe,their latest exhibition, is such an apt title for Muholi’s landmark homecoming exhibition. Loosely translated from isiZulu,Kanye Nawemeans “with you, alongside you” or “walking together”. When extended to the hymn they sung earlier it becomes “may I walk every day with You, my Lord”.
[/paywall]
All Zim News – Bringing you the latest news and updates.
