The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

A photograph of a woman with dark skin, powerful stare, and voluminous hair piled high around her face.

Somnyama II, Oslo

2015

Zanele Muholi

(South African, b. 1972)
South African
gelatin silver print
Image: 49.5 x 43.2 cm (19 1/2 x 17 in.); Framed: 52.2 x 45.2 x 4.4 cm (20 9/16 x 17 13/16 x 1 3/4 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 2016.40
© Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, and Stevenson Cape Town / Johannesburg
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This self-portrait is from a series called Hail the Dark Lioness.

Description

Zanele Muholi’s bold, self-possessed stare and high piles of tresses suggest the power of 17th-century French kings and of kings of the jungle, but white and gold are replaced by dark tones. “By exaggerating the darkness of my skin tone,” says Muholi, “I'm reclaiming my blackness, which I feel is continuously performed by the privileged other.”
  • 2015-2016
    Zanele Muholi (the artist) [1972-]
    2016
    (Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY)
    June 9, 2016
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Tannenbaum, Barbara. “Acquisition Highlights 2016: Photography.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 26-27. Reproduced: P. 26; Mentioned: P. 7, 26 archive.org
    Tannenbaum, Barbara. “Beyond Truth: The camera may never lie but the photographer might.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, no. 1 (January/February 2019): 8-9. Reproduced: P. 9; Mentioned: P. 8 archive.org
  • Beyond Truth: Photography after the Shutter. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=Somnyama II, Oslo|url=false|author=Zanele Muholi|year=2015|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.40