KEYNOTE: Award-winning photographer Zanele Muholi's images offer a bold stance against the stigmatization of lesbian and gay sexualities in Africa and beyond. The Faces and Phases series of black and white portraits by Zanele Muholi focuses on the commemoration and celebration of black lesbians' lives. Muholi embarked on this project in 2007, taking portraits of women from the townships in South Africa. In 2008, after the xenophobic and homophobic attacks that led to the mass displacement of people in that country, she decided to expand the ongoing series to include photographs of women from different countries. Collectively, the portraits are an act of visual activism. Depicting women of various ages and backgrounds, this gallery of images offers a powerful statement about the similarities and diversity that exist within the human race. AUTHOR: Zanele Muholi has exhibited extensively in South Africa and internationally. In 2009 she won the Casa Africa award for best female photographer at the Recontres de Bamako biennial of African photography, as well as a Fondation Blachere award. 70 duotone illustrations
