An Interview with Zanele Muholi

Zanele Muholi is a photographer and visual activist, researcher, scholar- teacher and self-described ‘ insider ’ within South Africa ’ s black lesbian community. She was born in 1972 and raised in Umlazi township in KwaZulu-Natal. During her youth, she had a number of occasional jobs as a hairstylist, factory labourer and receptionist. She began taking photographs informally at events and parties to challenge the notion within Zulu culture that the act of taking a photograph was the prerogative of men and also because she wanted to assert her right to record her own life (Muholi 14)