JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Cummer Museum’s latest exhibit will encourage dialogue like no other exhibit will.
The over 80 self-portraits by the South African photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholi don’t feature any descriptions. The majority are labeled just where they were taken and when. Several feature Muholi in everyday items such as mops, clothespin, tires, money, and chopsticks.
Muholi was born in 1972 and lives in Johnnesburg, South Africa. Their photography is featured all over the world, including the Tate Modern in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Muholi calls themselves a visual activist to effect social change, specifically for Black people and those in the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I’m reclaiming my blackness, which I feel is continuously performed by the privileged other. My reality is that I do not mimic being Black; it is my skin, and the experience of being Black is deeply entrenched in me. Just like our ancestors, we live as Black people 365 days a year, and we should speak without fear,” Muholi said of their exhibit.
The exhibit was not originally supposed to stop in Jacksonville. Director and CEO Andrea Barnwell Brownlee said that another exhibit was scheduled for this time slot, but was delayed due to the pandemic.
“And so we put our heads together and I said, ‘72 hours! That’s what I need, 72 hours to really really think about this space, to spend some more time in it thinking about size, etc., etc.’,” Brownlee said. “And without question, this was the show that made sense, for this time, for this city, for a number of reasons.”
Brownlee knew Muholi and was able to arrange for the exhibit to make it’s last stop in Jacksonville before ending it’s international tour.
This is Brownlee’s first exhibit since becoming the Director and CEO at the Cummer Museum in December. She says this past year has allowed the world to have tough conversations about race and inequality - themes that this exhibit focuses on.
“I’m very proud of this show. I’m very proud of this team for pivoting in the way that they did. COVID has obviously impacted the world in very profound ways, so I’m very excited and quite privilege that because it’s allowed us to have hard conversations from difference to LGBTQ communities, to the significance of photography at this moment, to activism, to empathy, to equity, to justice,” Brownlee said. “It’s really a privilege to continue the incredible history the Cummer really has, as well as build upon it.”
Along with the art, several programs are accompanying the exhibit, including Tuesday Night Talk Backs where members of the community can come and talk about themes of the gallery. Those are scheduled for April 20, May 4, May 18, and June 1 and are free to the community.
The Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness exhibit will open to the general public on April 15 and will stay in the Cummer Museum until the end of June.
Cox Media Group
Sign Up
