1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to. 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 2: Stuff Wh've never told you, a production of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:22,600 Speaker 1: And today for activists around the world, we are featuring 4 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: the works and afficacy of South African artists Zanelli Moholy. 5 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: They go by bathim and describes themselves as a visual 6 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: activist who uses their works as way to advocate for 7 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: the rights and protection of the South African queer community, 8 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: specifically the lesbian and non binary and trans community. They 9 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: do a lot of work in that field in specific areas. First, 10 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: if you haven't go and followed their works on social media, 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: they have updated and shown new shows that they're happening 12 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 1: on their site and is under their name and I 13 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: will spell it correctly this time A N E L 14 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: E M the UHO l I. So you should go 15 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: and follow their works. They have some great content on there. 16 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: They have some good like meditation stuff, vibration stuff. You know, 17 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: we love that over here. So if you need that 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: in your feed go follow them first and foremost. So 19 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: here's a bit about them from the Britannica dot com 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: Because yes they are pretty big, but I mean for 21 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: those who are not in the art world at the 22 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,119 Speaker 1: we need to feature them obviously, so Zanelli Maholy born 23 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: July nineteen, nineteen seventy two. They identify as visual artists 24 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: rather than an artist, and is non binary using vadim pronouns. 25 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: Their work, primarily photography, seeks to make more visible the 26 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: black l gpt quia plus community in South Africa, where 27 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: discrimination has often repressed queer and trans stories. Mohoy says 28 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: of their work that my mission to rewrite a Black, 29 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the 30 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: world to know of our resistance and existence at the 31 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: height of hate crimes in South Africa and beyond. They 32 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: are the youngest of eight children from the town of Umlazi. 33 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: Growing up during the time of apartheid in their country, 34 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: Mohoy worked to fight against the violence and belittling rhetoric 35 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: that was prevalent and kind of still is against the 36 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: lgbtqia plus community. As they advanced their career and passion, 37 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,519 Speaker 1: their work was used as their own activism around the world. 38 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: Working with publications like Behind the Mask, they made sure 39 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: to show the struggles women, especially queer women, experience in 40 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: a country that tried to silence them and that tries 41 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: to silence them. Yeah. Work like this led them into 42 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: co founding organizations like Forum for the Empowerment of Women 43 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: or a Few, which worked to advocate and provide safety 44 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: for women in the community. At the same time, Moholy 45 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,919 Speaker 1: continued in getting their education and advanced in their arts. 46 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: After getting their MFA at Ryerson University in Toronto, they 47 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: founded another nonprofit in Concio, which specifically worked on queer 48 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: media advocacy and activism. So they're already doing a lot. 49 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: Going by the term visual activists. Maholly has talked about 50 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: using their art as tool to bring change. Here's a 51 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: bit from sfmoma dot org. What does it mean to 52 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: be a visual activist? For South African artists? Zanelli Mahoy, 53 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: art is a tool of for social change. My practice 54 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: as a visual artist looks at black resistance existence as 55 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: well as insistence, Mahoy explained in an interview published by 56 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: Autograph App. Most of the work I've done over the 57 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:36,279 Speaker 1: years focuses exclusively on black LGBTQIA and gender nonconforming individuals, 58 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: making sure we exist in the visual archive. So they 59 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: have done a lot of interviews. They did a great 60 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: YouTube series about their exhibits and talking about how their 61 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: work is political is political because they are talking about 62 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: resistance and it will never not be which I think 63 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: is something important that we have to talk about because 64 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: in this day and the age of people being like, 65 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: why does it all have to be political? Because if 66 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: we want to make change of resistance, it is political. 67 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: And the article goes on to talk about their works 68 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: of saying a self described visual activist, Zanelli Moholy uses 69 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: the camera to explore issues of gender, identity, representation, and race, 70 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: often photographing their own body or members of their LGBTQ 71 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: plus community in South Africa. Moholy calls attention to the 72 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: trauma and violence enacted on queer people while celebrating their 73 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: beauty and resilience. Activism essential to Moholly's artistic practice, from 74 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: their early work contending with the dangers of being queer 75 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: in South Africa to their more recent work embracing their 76 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: own blackness and gender expression. So in two thousand and four, 77 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,160 Speaker 1: they did their first solo show in Johannesburg featuring photos 78 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: from her series Only Half the Picture. So this is 79 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: kind of one of her earliest works. And a bit 80 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: more from the Britannica article shot in black and white, 81 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: the works document members of the black LGBTQIA plus community 82 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: and intimate moments that defy taboos. Participants' faces are not shown, 83 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: only isolated parts of the body, such as a hairy 84 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: chest and a lace spra or a thigh showing a long, 85 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: thick scar. The show was met with critical acclaim and 86 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: Maholly was soon showing internationally, including in Vienna, Amsterdam, Milan 87 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 1: and Lagos and obviously more. And They emphasize the term 88 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: participants instead of subjects due to the fact that they 89 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: feel that the people involved are collaborators of activism and advocacy. 90 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: They have talked about the importance of empowering their participants 91 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,600 Speaker 1: and allowing them to have a say in the artwork, 92 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 1: especially as they're being represented, and though their photography has 93 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: been their main focus around the world, they also love 94 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: other artistic expressions, such as painting and even directing. During 95 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: the pandemic, they focused more on painting due to the 96 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 1: lack of opportunities of social events and gathering, so you know, 97 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: you got to express yourself some way, even if it's 98 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: not with other people. And they've also directed several documentaries. 99 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: In twenty ten, they did one title Difficult Love, which 100 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: gives a bit of insight into the lives of Moholly 101 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: and other black lesbians in South Africa. So they go 102 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: around telling those stories, which was actually broadcast around the world. 103 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: Then they did another one later titled We Live in Fear, 104 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: which was released by the Human Rights Watch. So they've 105 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: done a lot of this type of work. I think 106 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: it's important to note, and they've still done a lot 107 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,479 Speaker 1: of works since the pandemic twenty twenty and beyond, including 108 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: a show they did titled Sunyama in Yan Gamma, which 109 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: this is what the Britannica wrote about that their colorful 110 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: self portraits recall the compositions of Sanyama in ghan Yama 111 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: and continue Maholly's investigation of the black body, gender and representation. 112 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: So that specific one was based on their own self portrait. 113 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: They're taking like different types of pictures of them and 114 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: how they envisioned where they would be, what they would 115 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: look like during different timelines. So they talked about this 116 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: work specifically and like envisioning and fantasizing what it would 117 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: have been like had they been there during that time, 118 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: or had had black bodies and black women been included 119 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: so beautiful work. I think one of the pictures were 120 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: actually shared or was actually on the cover of the 121 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: National Geographic, So you know, pretty big deal, pretty big deal. 122 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: The article continues. That same year, a major survey of 123 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: their work was held at Tate Modern, London. Other exhibits 124 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: include Zanelli Moholy I Me, which was released in twenty 125 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: twenty four at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 126 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: Being Moholy Portraits as Resistance at the Gardner Museum Boston, 127 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: and Zanelli Moholly twenty twenty one in Berlin. Their photos 128 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: are in the collections of many world renowned institutions, including 129 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: Central Pompadou Paris, the Gougenheim Museum, New York, and the 130 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 1: Zeit's Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town. So they've 131 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: got a lot of work going on, and in fact, 132 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: according to their Instagram, they have an upcoming show in Miami, Florida. Interesting, right, 133 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: I'm telling you. They're all three local. They had a 134 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: show in Nola as well, New Orleans, so they are 135 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: about the world. So if you get an opportunity, it's 136 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: definitely something worth going to check out and seeing it 137 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: as beautiful works, and they have tons and tons and 138 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: tons of accolades, and we're just going to name a few, 139 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: including the Federal Award in twenty thirteen, which was the 140 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: South Africa's LGBTI Awards. They won the twenty sixteen Outstanding 141 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: International Alumni Award from Ryerson University. They won the Honor 142 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: Fellowship of the Royal Photographics Society in Bath, England in 143 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the Lucy Humanitarian Award in twenty nineteen, and 144 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,959 Speaker 1: I do believe her work has been featured and released 145 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: in award winning books as well. So if you want 146 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: to look for those out there in the world, you 147 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: should again go and check out their social media, their 148 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: Instagram because they have a lot of work up and 149 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: I think it's amazing as they continue their work and 150 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:57,199 Speaker 1: continue their artistry and celebrating their visual activism. 151 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, go check all of that stuff out if 152 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 2: you have not already. Listeners and as always, if you 153 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 2: have any suggestions, let us know any resources, anything we 154 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 2: should check out. You can email us at Hello at 155 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 2: stuffannevertold you dot com. You can find us on blue 156 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,719 Speaker 2: Sky app also podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at 157 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 2: stuff one Never told you We're ls on YouTube. We 158 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 2: have some new merchandise at common Buro and we have 159 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,439 Speaker 2: a book you can get wherever you get your books. 160 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 2: Thanks as always too our superprendews Christina, our secretive producer Maya, 161 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,839 Speaker 2: and your contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you 162 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 2: for listening stuff Never told you. Dispection by Heart Radio. 163 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 2: For more podcast from my heart Radio, you can check 164 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 2: out the heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or you listen 165 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 2: to your favorite shows