Zanele Muholi: South African Visual Activist Wins Hasselblad Award for LGBTQI+ Representation
Zanele Muholi, a South African visual activist, has been named the 2026 recipient of the prestigious Hasselblad Award, the world’s largest photography prize. The announcement, made by the Hasselblad Foundation, recognizes Muholi’s decades-long commitment to centering the lives and experiences of Black LGBTQIA+ individuals through powerful and often deeply personal portraiture.
The award, consisting of SEK 2,000,000 (approximately $218,000), a gold medal and a Hasselblad camera, is widely regarded as the most prestigious prize in photography. Muholi, who prefers the term “visual activist” over traditional artistic labels, will be honored with a solo exhibition at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, Sweden, from to , alongside a series of events during Hasselblad Award Week.
The Hasselblad Foundation’s citation highlights Muholi’s profound influence, stating they “stand as one of the most influential contemporary photographers, with an impact that reaches far beyond the art world.” Their work, it notes, articulates and celebrates the presence, depth, and dignity of the Black LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa and globally. Born in during the apartheid regime, Muholi’s photography is deeply informed by an awareness of the power of narration in the face of systemic violence.
Muholi’s practice extends beyond the purely aesthetic. It is fundamentally political, intended to bring about change through transforming perceptions of Black LGBTIQ+ people. They have produced a vast visual archive that asserts the right to live in safety and freedom, and celebrates love and community.
Born and raised in Umlazi, a township outside Durban, South Africa, Muholi’s work is rooted in a personal understanding of the challenges faced by marginalized communities. Their mother worked as a domestic worker for over 40 years. Muholi began their visual activism at a pivotal moment in South African history, following the end of apartheid in and the establishment of a new constitution guaranteeing equality for all.
Muholi studied photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg in the early 2000s, mentored by celebrated South African photographer David Goldblatt. They are among the first Black women photographers to work in South Africa, alongside artists like Mabel Cetu, Mavis Mtandeki, Primrose Talakumeni, Ruth Motau, Lindeka Qampi, and Ingrid Masondo, and the first to focus specifically on the LGBTIQ+ community.
Muholi’s early images often portray love, care, and intimacy within Black lesbian relationships, although also drawing attention to the disconnect between constitutional promises and lived realities. Their first exhibition was held at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in , and their first book, Only Half the Picture, documented lesbian life and the trauma of sexual violence and homophobic hate crimes.
The ongoing series Faces and Phases is a particularly significant body of work, creating an intimate archive that subverts studio portrait conventions. It serves as a powerful act of resistance, insisting on the recognition and commemoration of those lost to homophobic attacks.
Muholi’s self-portrait series, Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness), further explores themes of race, representation, and ancestral connection, utilizing found objects and striking visual symbolism. This work, published in two photo books, is a powerful meditation on Blackness and being.
Muholi’s commitment extends to fostering the next generation of visual activists. They founded Inkanyiso in to support LGBTQI+ creatives in South Africa and the Muholi Art Institute in to empower emerging artists.
Accepting the Hasselblad Award, Muholi emphasized that the recognition belongs to the community they represent, stating, “This award is not mine alone. I carry it with the many people who have entrusted me with their stories…This recognition confirms that our lives are worth seeing – not as statistics, not as shadows, but as full human beings.”
Muholi joins a distinguished lineage of Hasselblad Award winners, including Nan Goldin, Ingrid Pollard, and Malick Sidibé. The award solidifies Muholi’s place in photographic history and underscores the importance of their work in reshaping how Black African LGBTIQ+ experiences are seen and understood.
A solo exhibition of Muholi’s work will be held at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, Sweden from to .