SIBANINGI, Faces and Phases Returns Home to Mark 20 Years
By Wakhe Sebenza
On Saturday, 17 October 2026, SIBANINGI opened at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg, marking 20 years of Faces and Phases, the ongoing photographic series by visual activist and photographer Zanele Muholi. The exhibition celebrates two decades of documenting, preserving and affirming Black LGBTQIA+ lives through visual histories.
Although Muholi could not attend the opening in person, they joined the audience through a live stream displayed on a large screen at the venue. Speaking from Paris, France, where they were preparing for another exhibition, Muholi apologised for their absence and reflected on the significance of returning to the institution where their practice as a photographer and visual activist took shape.
“I was at Market Photo Workshop in 2001 to 2003 and I was given an opportunity to express myself the way I am,” Muholi said. “I am black and queer and I am a visual activist, all those images that you are seeing now, they speak to our visual activism and they speak to our existence.”
Faces and Phases is a visual archive that records lives, challenges erasure and ensures that Black LGBTQIA+ people are represented in the histories of South Africa and beyond.
“They speak to a visual archive that is much needed in South Africa today and beyond today,” they said, expressing their happiness that audiences had gathered to witness the exhibition.
The title SIBANINGI, meaning “we are many”, speaks to the presence of people whose lives and contributions have not always been acknowledged in South Africa’s public history. The exhibition invites audiences to consider how Black LGBTQIA+ people have participated in the country’s social and political struggles, even when circumstances made it difficult for them to live openly as themselves.
Reflecting on South Africa’s history, Muholi drew connections between the exhibition and the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, as well as the 1976 Soweto Uprising. In 2026, South Africa marks 70 years since the Women’s March and 50 years since the youth-led uprising against apartheid education policies, including the enforcement of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
Muholi challenged audiences to recognise that queer and trans people were also part of these historical moments, whether or not their identities were publicly acknowledged.
“Obviously there was one person who felt like me. Definitely there was a queer person who existed within the audience of 20,000 women who marched,” they said, reflecting on the Women’s March.
Their words called for a broader understanding of history—one that acknowledges the presence of queer and trans people in movements for freedom, justice and equality. Even when people could not openly express who they were, their lives were still part of the country’s history.
Muholi also addressed the need for government to recognise and support queer and trans creatives, particularly in the distribution of resources for the arts.
“We cannot keep ministers coming in and out without acknowledging us because we are obviously taxpayers,” they said, arguing that public resources allocated to artists should also reach queer and trans practitioners.
The remarks reinforced a central concern of Faces and Phases: visibility involves being seen, recognised, remembered and included in the institutions and structures that shape society.
For the Market Photo Workshop, hosting SIBANINGI was an opportunity to welcome Muholi’s work back to the institution where they studied photography. Bandile Gumbi, head of the Market Photo Workshop, welcomed visitors to the space and described the exhibition as a homecoming.
Gumbi reflected on the relationship between the institution, Muholi and the wider photographic community, recognising the significance of bringing Faces and Phases to a place that helped shape Muholi’s practice.
The institution’s work extends beyond technical photography training. It also creates opportunities for people to develop their voices, share experiences and find a place within the photographic industry. Gumbi welcomed the community gathered for the opening, acknowledging Muholi’s achievements and the importance of celebrating their contribution to photography.
The exhibition, she noted, brought the work back into a space shaped by learning, exchange and relationships built through photography over many years. The return of Faces and Phases also acknowledged the institution’s role in supporting photographic practice and creating space for stories that might otherwise remain unseen.
Curator Lufuno Ramadwa reflected on the significance of working with Muholi and this body of work, emphasising the relationships and sense of belonging that have developed through their practice across different parts of the world.
Ramadwa spoke about Muholi’s ability to bring people together across communities and geographical boundaries, from South Africa to Brazil and Europe. Recalling Muholi’s recent recognition in Sweden as the 2026 Hasselblad Award laureate, Ramadwa highlighted that Muholi had insisted the award was not theirs alone but belonged to everyone.
That sentiment speaks to the spirit of SIBANINGI: an acknowledgement that the work is inseparable from the people whose lives, portraits and histories make it possible. Inviting visitors to spend time with the exhibition, Ramadwa encouraged them to look closely, feel at home in the space and recognise one another in the work.
Since its beginning in 2006, Faces and Phases has developed into an enduring photographic archive of Black lesbian, transgender and queer lives. Through portraiture, the series affirms the identities of its participants while creating a record that resists the erasure of people whose stories have historically been marginalised.
Over two decades, the work has continued to grow, bringing these portraits and histories into different spaces and across international borders. The significance of returning to the Market Photo Workshop lies in acknowledging the people, relationships and opportunities that helped shape Muholi’s practice.
SIBANINGI asks audiences to look beyond the individual portrait and consider the lives, histories and collective presence represented within the frame. It reminds us that queer and trans people have always been part of South Africa’s past and present, and that their stories deserve to be preserved for future generations.
