Please Help my friend find her stolen work – What Zanele has lost is a body of history that is irreplaceable – “I have dedicated my life to this work,” Zanele Muholi.
By Melanie Nathan, May 12, 2012.
Melanie Nathan and Zanele Muholi
“Loss, lost, violated, ripped, stripped, ransacked… ngilahlekelwe,” are the devastating words that appear on the Facebook page of famed South African photographer and documentary filmmaker, Zanele Muholi, whose entire body of work has been stolen.
Zanele Muholi is devastated after more than 20 external hard drives were stolen from her Vredehoek flat, near Cape Town, South Africa. She believes her work in which she documents the lives of black South African lesbians, may have been targeted because little else was stolen. Muholi appeals to anyone who comes across her hard drives to return them.
To understand the extent and enormity of this theft it must be noted that Zanele’s extraordinary talent, dedication and relentless grip on her lense, goes beyond mere art, but into the realm of activism that touches the most sensitive and pervasive issues of modern South African society.
What Zanele has lost is a body of history that is irreplaceable. This is how she explains her loss and her desperate search to find her work:-
On the 26th April I returned from Seoul, Korea where my documentary “Difficult Love” was shown at the 14th International Woman’s Film Festival.
All went ok until I got home only to receive bad news from Liesl about burglary at our flat on 20.04.2012I”ve lost all the work I produced from 2008 – 2012. Also backups were stolen.
I thought of the day I spoke with another friend about alternative storage. Now it is too late. I feel like a breathing zombie right now. I don’t even know where to start. I’m wasted. I’ve sent out a note to friends to tell them about the incident.
The person/s got access to the flat via the toilet window, broke the burglar guard and got away with my cameras, lenses, memory cards and external hard drives, laptop, cellphones…
Whoever ransacked the place got away with more than 20 external hard drives with the most valuable content I’ve ever produced
I am hoping that a few of my good friends are willing to go to pawn shops or to other places where this type of equipment is sold. I do not even want to know who the thief is.
I need the hard drives: ranging from Toshiba, Western, Samsung at 320GB – 1TB each–these are the brands and sizes of hard drive I am looking for.
They would have gone into the pawn shop since 20 April. I am willing to pay a reward for the return of those ext. hard drives.I certainly would pay more than the pawn shop can sell them for.
Thanking you in advance.
It is my hope that readers will pass this article along and that South Africans will conduct a massive search, as Zanele says, not for the thief, but rather for the work. I implore you all to walk into any all pawn shops, far and wide, to see if you can help Zanele retrieve her work.
Finding this work will not only restore it to its rightful owner Zanele Muholi, but also to the nation she has worked so tirelessly to improve.
If anyone has information please contact Zanele Muholi via her Facebook Page or if you want to contact me and tell me where her equipment is, I will keep your information confidential in exchange for safe return of the equipment. If anyone is interested in helping to establish a reward fund, please e-mail me at this address too. [email protected]
UPDATED May 15, 2012 –
Nothing can replace years and years of work – of dedication put into archiving a history for an entire community – however what we can do is try and replace some of Zanele’s equipment. Visit Indiegogo campaign to raise money to replace stolen equipment at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/105167?c=home
To read more here about Zanele Muholi :-
ZANELE MUHOLI 2011
Melanie Nathan- March 31- 2011
One of the pieces I have written and been savoring for publication is about my very dear friend, Zanele Muholi. Zanele is a rare human being – modest, selfless, committed and extraordinarily talented. She expresses her love through her lens – her art – and her opinion and soul is solidly portrayed in every image.
As soon as I arrived in Cape Town Zanele and I found each other – always camera in hand, video cam and sound recorder. Her technique , a fine art in itself. She is never without her set of equipment and there is not a moment that she does not photograph and film and record.
Zanele has her group of supporters whom I call the “super supporters” – a cut above the fans and the rest of the world which appreciates the enormity of her work. The ‘Super Supporters’ include a group of young women, lesbians, many of whom have been beaten, raped and abused in the most brutal of ways. However they are alive and they have heeded the call of Zanele. You see, I call them ‘Super Supporters’ because at no time has Zanele ever aimed her camera at a victim. In her purview of those who may otherwise have been ‘victim’ – morphs graduates – survivors and then merge leaders.
READ MORE AT http://oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/south-african-lesbian-photographer-activist-zanele-muholis-exhibits-new-portraits/
If anyone has information please contact Zanele Muholi via her Facebook Page or if you want to contact me and tell me where her equipment is, I will keep your information confidential in exchange for safe return of the equipment. If anyone is interested in helping to establish a reward fund, please e-mail me at this address too. [email protected]
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Hi Melanie,
Please let Zanele know that data- even from a hard drive that has been formatted- is not always “gone” or lost. Many times, the formatting process merely erases the index (or “pointers”) to where the files used to exist within the operating system structure. I have been very successful in retrieving “lost” data in such cases- even when a drive has been formatted & Windows reinstalled on top! I offer my services if the drives are recovered.
Also, backups stored in the same location as the originals are not good- as she has unfortunately found out. From now on, Zanele must either keep the duplicate backups off-site &/or “in the cloud” using an online storage facility. I know, too late for this time- but this is one of the things I stress the most to my IT clients.
Tracy
Thanks Tracy
I worked with Zanele during Pride 2001, so this is personal. Please send her my best wishes for finding her equipment, and let her know that even in Canada I’m thinking of her.
she did not deserve this thank you –
We need to put pressure on the police to make sure that her equipment are recovered and these people are caught and made to face the full weight of the law
I would tell the perpetraitor that if they returned the equipment unharmed I would not report them. This way I think we stand a chance of getting Zanele her stuff back. Lets hope!