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  • Faces & Phases: UK

    Zanele Muholi

     

    14 OCTOBER – 16 NOVEMBER 2025
    VIEWING HOURS FRI - SUN | 12 - 6 PM

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  • QUEERCIRCLE, in collaboration with The Common Press and the Muholi Art Institute, is proud to present Faces and Phases: UK 2025, a landmark exhibition by internationally acclaimed South African photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholi.

     

    The exhibition opens with a public launch event on 14 October 2025 (6–9 PM) in the presence of the artist and a number of special guests. Opening during Black History Month, the exhibition marks the first full presentation of the UK iteration of Muholi’s long-running project Faces & Phases. The show offers an important moment to celebrate and reflect on Black queer life, resistance and creativity.

    Muholi’s latest exhibition brings together 100 portraits of Black queer women, non-binary and trans members of the UK community who demand to be seen, with stories that refuse erasure. The archive embodies visibility, storytelling and solidarity - resisting erasure while celebrating resilience. Each image forms part of Muholi’s radical and ongoing archive, Faces and Phases, a project initiated by Muholi in 2006 to document and honour the lives of Black queer and trans communities worldwide, through powerful portraiture. Nearly two decades on, Faces and Phases continues as a living testimony to Black queer presence across generations and borders.

     

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  • Inside the gallery, the portraits are accompanied by video recordings from those photographed and a curated selection of books from The Common Press, London’s intersectional queer bookshop café. Visitors are invited not only to look, but to rest, to listen and to connect with friends and allies, both old and new. 

    Alongside Zanele Muholi, the evening will include contributions from Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir, Vernon Pienaar, Khadijatou Doyneh and SCARBA. Together, this group represents a cross-section of creative practices - spanning visual art, film, music, literature, spoken word, and DJ culture - that embody the spirit of Faces and Phases. Their presence underscores the exhibition’s commitment to community, collaboration and celebration, ensuring that the launch night is as much a gathering of people as it is a presentation of work.

     

    In addition to the exhibition runs a free public programme at QUEERCIRCLE which spans talks, workshops, study groups and performances. Together with The Common Press and the Muholi Art Institute, QUEERCIRCLE ensures the project not only celebrates visibility but also builds spaces of learning, exchange and solidarity.

     

    In a moment when trans lives are increasingly targeted by state policies and hostile rhetoric, and against a backdrop of racist, anti-immigration protests across the UK, Faces and Phases becomes a site of reverence and resistance, a vital contribution to this year’s Black History Month, held and shaped through community collaboration.

  • Zanele Muholi

    Photo of Zanele Muholi Qiniso, The Sails, Durban 2019 © Zanele Muholi, Courtesy of the Artist and Yancey Richardson, New York.

    Zanele Muholi

    Zanele Muholi is a renowned South African photographer and visual activist whose work celebrates and documents the lives of Black LGBTQIA+ communities. 

     

    Their major exhibition, featuring over 260 photographs, spans their career, starting in the early 2000s. Muholi’s Only Half the Picture series portrays love, intimacy, and trauma, highlighting ongoing violence against LGBTQIA+ people despite South Africa’s progressive 1996 constitution. In Faces and Phases, subjects confront viewers with direct gazes, forming a powerful archive of authenticity and resistance. Other series include Brave Beauties, celebrating non-binary and trans empowerment, and Being, tenderly portraying couples to challenge stereotypes. In Somnyama Ngonyama (“Hail the Dark Lioness”), Muholi turns the lens on themself, addressing themes like racism and sexual politics. This exhibition, including new works, showcases their impactful artistry and activism.

  • The Programme

    • OCT 01 Working with Generosity with Mijke Van Der Drift OCT 08 Liberatory Affects with Lola Olufemi OCT 15 Study...
      01, 08, 15, 22 OCT | 6.30 - 9.30 PM

      OCT 01    Working with Generosity with Mijke Van Der Drift
      OCT 08    Liberatory Affects with Lola Olufemi
      OCT 15    Study Group: Gender, Colonialism and The Family with Abeera Khan
      OCT 22    Performance Lecture: Queer Cruising with Jacob V Joyce

    • Expression of Interest Form
      Expression of Interest Form OCT 02 & 16, Nov 13 & 20, DEC 11 | 2 - 5 PM

      Join artist Daniel Regan for 5 creative workshops that explore LGBTQIA+ people’s experiences of family estrangement. 

    • Join musician and researcher margomool for a collective reflection on what vocal embodiment means for queer and trans+ communities. In...
      22 OCT 2025 | 6.30 - 8.30 PM

      Join musician and researcher margomool for a collective reflection on what vocal embodiment means for queer and
      trans+ communities. In conversation with Nishma Jethwa of Healing Justice and course participant Lou Robbin.

 

Building 4, 3 Barton Yard, Soames Walk, Design District, SE10 0BN

 

 Supported by 



 

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