Re-imagining family photography through Zanele Muholi’s lens.
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Date
2024
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This study examines Zanele Muholi’s photographs in relation to the genre of family photography. This study questions whether we can consider Zanele Muholi’s photos as part of family photography. Family photography documents events. It captures celebrations, birthday parties and graduations and rarely ever captures pain and sadness. This study questions the heteronormativity and patriarchy that is reinforced by family photography. This study also questions notions of identity and belonging through two selected works, Somnyama Ngonyama and Faces and Phases. Muholi photographs members of the LGBTQI community, capturing scars, funerals and celebrates same-sex tenderness. The study therefore questions the definition of what family photography is when considering the photographed LGBTQI community that Zanele Muholi portrays, and aims to expand understandings of this genre while simultaneously engaging it critically.
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Keywords
Family photography, LGBTQI, identity, Belonging, Heteronormativity