As Kanye Nawe – Alongside You closes in Cape Town, Zanele Muholi opens a new chapter in Amsterdam with Hlanganani – Unite, marking two decades of Faces and Phases and extending a global conversation around Black LGBTQIA+ visibility, dignity and belonging.
On 10 September 2026, Zanele Muholi’s Kanye Nawe – Alongside You comes to a close in Cape Town. Just two days later, the visual activist and photographer opens a new solo exhibition, Hlanganani – Unite, at Galerie Ron Mandos in Amsterdam, presented alongside the Muholi Art Institute (MAI).
The transition from one exhibition to the next is more than a change of location. It reflects the expansive nature of Muholi’s practice — one rooted in community, shaped by lived experience and increasingly connected across borders.
Opening on 12 September, Hlanganani – Unite brings together new self-portraits from Muholi’s ongoing Somnyama Ngonyama (“Hail the Dark Lioness”) series, new paintings and a major presentation of Faces and Phases, the landmark photographic archive that this year reaches its 20th anniversary.
First begun in 2006, Faces and Phases has grown from an act of documentation into one of the most significant living visual archives of Black LGBTQIA+ life. Across hundreds of portraits made over two decades and five continents, Muholi has created a record of people, identities and communities that have historically been underrepresented, misrepresented or rendered invisible.
For Muholi, visibility is not simply about being photographed. It is about being remembered.
“Faces and Phases was never only about the photograph. It was about making sure our people are seen, remembered and respected. Twenty years later the work continues because the need continues. Art is how we insist on our existence. It is how we protect each other.”
The exhibition also brings the project full circle in Amsterdam. In 2009, Muholi spent three months in the city as a resident at the Thami Mnyele Foundation, an experience that informed early self-portrait works including Being (T)here. Seventeen years later, Muholi has returned to work with members of Amsterdam’s Black queer community, creating new portraits that extend the archive while connecting its past to its present.
The timing is particularly significant. When Faces and Phases began in 2006, South Africa had just become the first country in Africa to legalise same-sex marriage. What began against that backdrop has evolved into a two-decade-long visual record of resilience, resistance, intimacy and collective presence.
The title Hlanganani, meaning “Unite”, speaks directly to that evolution.
“Hlanganani means Unite. It is a call to stand together, across race, gender, borders and histories. From Cape Town’s Kanye Nawe – Alongside You, we move into a wider circle. We are saying that our communities, wherever we are, belong to each other. No one should stand alone.”
While Kanye Nawe may be closing its physical exhibition in Cape Town, the conversation will continue through a series of online talks with Muholi, allowing audiences in South Africa and beyond to remain part of the dialogue.
Together, the two exhibitions demonstrate the reach of Muholi’s work: from intimate encounters within local communities to an international conversation about representation, identity and belonging.
After two decades, Faces and Phases remains a living archive — one that continues to grow because the stories it holds still matter. Through Hlanganani – Unite, Muholi once again uses photography and art not simply to document existence, but to affirm it.
