Zanele Muholi – recipient of the 2026 Hasselblad Award

Zanele Muholi is the recipient of the 2026 Hasselblad Award, the world’s most prestigious photography award. Muholi will be celebrated with a major solo exhibition at Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, from 10 October 2026 to 4 April 2027, along with a programme of public events.

Zanele Muholi has pioneered new ways of using photography as visual activism, particularly through an uncompromising commitment to visibility and respect for Black queer people. Their work challenges silence and prejudice, not least in their home country of South Africa.

About the exhibition

The exhibition presents photographs from six series, including the early work Only Half the Picture (2002), which documents lesbians who have survived hate crimes, and the ongoing project Faces & Phases (2006–), created as an act of resistance against systemic violence. In Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness) (2012–), Muholi uses self-portraiture to challenge stereotypes and historical representations of Black bodies.

Strengthening communities and building shared knowledge are central to Muholi’s practice. They have profoundly influenced a new generation of queer and Black photographers.

The exhibition is curated by Louise Wolthers and Dragana Vujanović Östlind of the Hasselblad Foundation, together with Lufuno Ramadwa of the Muholi Art Institute.

Meet Zanele Muholi

8 October, 09:30–12:00, Gothenburg
Hasselblad Award Seminar, Universitetsplatsen 1. Free admission; advance registration through the University of Gothenburg is required.

10 October, 13:00, Gothenburg
Exhibition tour and book signing at Hasselblad Center. No advance registration required. Included with museum admission.

13 October, 17:30–19:00, Stockholm
Artist talk with Zanele Muholi and a lecture by Tawanda Appiah at Moderna Museet. Free admission; advance registration through Moderna Museet is required.

Bild: Miss D’vine II, 2007
© Zanele Muholi.
Courtesy Yancey Richardson, New York and Southern Guild, Cape Town.