By Melanie Nathan, May 18, 2012. Here are two articles I wrote about Zanele Muholi, the famed lesbian artist, photographer and filmmaker, from 2010 and 2011 respectively. Now that Zanele Muholi has had her work stolen by a thief who removed 20 hard drives from her apartment, I decided to republish these pieces here. For […]
South African Photographer Zanele Muholi | Reward for return of Stolen Work
Zanele is pleading to the burglar/s to return her equipment with all the work intact.
South African Lesbian Activist Photographer Zanele Muholi Loses Major Work in Burglary
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. “Loss, lost, violated, ripped, stripped, ransacked… ngilahlekelwe,” are the devastating words that appear on the Facebook page […]
South African Lesbian Photographer Activist: Zanele Muholi’s Exhibits New Portraits
July 06, 2011, by Melanie Nathan, Inkanyiso brings together three new bodies of photographic work: new portraits in the ongoing series Faces and Phases (2010-11); Beulahs (2007-10) and Transfigures (2010-11), and the documentary Difficult Love (2010). As always, Muholi is upfront about her agenda as an activist, seeking to educate the viewer on ‘the complexities […]
The Beauty of Soweto Pride
By Melanie Nathan, Oct 08, 2014. The beauty of Soweto Pride could not be better expressed than through the endless photographs displayed on the Inkanyiso website. What better a way than steeped in Pride, to further the celebration of 20 years of democracy in South Africa. One feels the hope in the beauty, love and smiles, […]
Important Queer and Trans Art Exhibit at Wits
Queer and Trans Art-iculations: Collaborative Art for Social Change | Zanele Muholi and Gabrielle Le Roux Posted by Melanie Nathan, January, 23, 2014. The Wits Art Museum, ( The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa) in partnership with Wits Centre for Diversity Studies and Inkanyiso, is proud to announce the exhibition Queer and Trans Art-iculations: Collaborative […]
So called Corrective Rape of Lesbians in South Africa should Embarrass President Zuma
By Melanie Nathan, January 04, 2014. Touted in an article as the most comprehensive report on the issue, “Crisis in South Africa: The shocking practice of ‘corrective rape’ – aimed at ‘curing’ lesbians,” is the work of Clare Carter, who left her home in New York City in 2011 to photograph South Africa’s corrective rape […]
Magnificent Gay Marriage South African Style
By Melanie Nathan, December 24, 2013. Our friends at Inkanyiso have done it again. Recording every aspect and extreme, with amazing visuals, from the worst sadness to the ultimate joy, here is an exciting report by Yaya Mavundla. This was all about love and with given names like “Promise” and “Gift” all was perfect for […]
Famed South African Lesbian Visual Activist to Present at Los Angeles LGBT Center
ZANELE MUHOLI | VISUAL ACTIVISM AND BLACK LESBIAN VISIBILITY IN SOUTH AFRICA By Melanie Nathan, September 17, 2013. Award winning South African lesbian artist and activist Zanele Muholi will appear with her works at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center to discuss her visual activism, her work with the queer media collective Inkayiso, her […]
Exclusive Photos Funeral of Lesbian Rape Murder Victim Noxolo Nogwaza
Exclusive Photos: Funeral of Lesbian Rape Murder Victim Noxolo Fiyona Nogwaza Melanie Nathan, May 02, 2011; Photos by Zanele Muholi© We all stood on a mound of God’s Earth and held the Rainbow Flag – We held it close to our hearts and flew it high above the hallowed ground – now home to a […]
May 15, 2011 Corrective Rape Protestors
VIDEO: South Africa, Corrective Rape Protestors Chant the ‘Amandla Awethu Melanie Nathan, May 15, 2011, South Africans have a unique way of protesting. They invoke dance, song, ad-lib words and the old apartheid era “Amandla Awethu!” Amandla is a Xhosa and Zulu word meaning “power”. The word was a popular rallying cry in the days […]
South African Lesbian photographer’s big ask of Norway’s Crown Princess
Please tell other Monarchs, especially in Africa, that being gay is OKAY By Melanie Nathan, June 21, 2013 The Crown Princess of Norway, Her Royal Highness Mette-Marit, met famed South African photographer, filmmaker and LGBTI activist Zanele Muholi recently at an exhibition of Muholi’s work in Norway. The event took place last night at the Kunstplass […]
As the U.S. waits on SCOTUS Durban lesbian wedding speaks volumes
Ziningi & Delisile Ndlela just married – Durban June 15, 2013. By Melanie Nathan June 17, 2013. While the United States struggles, state by state, to allow legal marriages between same-sex couples and while the United States waits with bated breath to see if any of its nine justices agree that marriage equality must be […]
Remember Me When I’m gone
By Melanie Nathan, March 09, 2013. Inkanyiso is a South African website which was conceptualized by internationally renowned photographer, award winning documentary filmmaker and visual activist, Zanele Muholi in 2006. In 2009, Muholi registered the organization with Department of Social Services in South Africa. It was in response to the lack of visual histories and […]
South African Court Fails to Deliver Justice in Carlton Centre Lesbian Attack
By Melanie Nathan, Dec 20, 2012. Today the Johannesburg Court handed down its judgment and sentence in the Boniswa Mtshali case which has become known as the Carlton Centre Case. The accused was found guilty of physical assault with a motivation of prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation of the women. After kissing her […]
South Africa Lesbian Killers| Zoliswa Gets Justice at Last
Lesbian Murderers Receive 18 years and Magistrate sets hate crimes acknowledgment precedent by Melanie Nathan, February 01, 2012. A cheer rang out and the crowd sang and danced outside the Khayelitsha Courthouse, Cape Town, South Africa, the scene of over thirty postponements in a murder trial that shocked the world, taking five years to meter […]
South Africa Corrective Rape Task Force Helms Hate Crimes Reform
July 03, 2011, by Melanie Nathan, Early in 2010, I started covering the stories of women in the South African Townships, who were raped by men seeking to “correct” the fact that they were lesbians, touting that rape would change the sexuality of the victim. I never believed that these brutal crimes ever truly earned the […]
RECENT COMMENTS