Vukani II (Paris)
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.The South African photographer Zanele Muholi is a self-described visual activist and cultural archivist. In the artist’s hands, the camera is a potent tool of self-representation and self-definition for communities at risk of violence. Muholi has chosen the nearly archaic black-and-white process for most of their portraits "to create a sense of timelessness—a sense that we’ve been here before, but we’re looking at human beings who have never before had an opportunity to be seen." Challenging the immateriality of our digital age, Muholi has restated the importance of the physical print and connected their work to that of their progenitors. In this recent self-portrait, Muholi sits on a bed, sharing a quiet moment of reflection and self-observation. The title, in the artist’s native Zulu, translates loosely as "wake up."
Artwork Details
- Title: Vukani II (Paris)
- Artist: Zanele Muholi (South African, born 1972)
- Date: 2014
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 23 1/2 in. × 13 in. (59.7 × 33 cm)
Framed: 24 1/2 × 14 in. (62.2 × 35.6 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Promised Gift of Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing