This postcard features a photographic print of an iconic image from Zanele Muholi’s Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness) series.

Recall the work Zazi II, ISGM, Boston, 2019, featured in Muholi’s exhibition, and write personalized messages to share with those who admire Zanele Muholi.

The Zanele Muholi exhibition product collection translates the visual power of the works on view at the Serralves Museum into a series of personal accessories, reflecting photography as a powerful tool of resistance. Just as in the exhibition, these intimate portraits stand as acts of visual activism, giving visibility to Muholi’s work and to the resilience of Black LGBTQIA+ communities whose stories inform and inspire their entire practice. With a modernist design that showcases these striking images, the collection challenges stereotypes and cisheteronormative norms, capturing Muholi’s originality and sociopolitical commitment. Genderless and unapologetic, these pieces express plural identities and promote inclusion and individual self-expression.

The exhibition, laid out in chronological order and according to thematic focus, follows Muholi’s path since embracing activism in the early 2000s until the present day. With more than 200 photographs, this represents the largest retrospective of their career so far, and also serves to introduce Portuguese audiences to their work. Besides offering a broad overview of Muholi’s practice, the exhibition revisits key moments in the history of South Africa, from the dark years of Apartheid to the continuing struggle for equality and human rights. In Portugal, where our colonial legacy continues to be profoundly ingrained in society, this exhibition offers us a unique opportunity to reflect critically on the historical and cultural implications of discrimination and oppression, while reminding us of the urgent need to debate issues such as gender and cultural identity, collective memory and social justice.