On Friday, 9 October, South African visual activist Zanele Muholi accepted the 2026 Hasselblad Award in recognition of their extraordinary contribution to photography and their sustained commitment to documenting, celebrating, and preserving Black LGBTQIA+ lives. One of the world's most prestigious honours in photography, the award acknowledges the artistic and social impact of a practice that has challenged the politics of representation for more than two decades.

Accepting the award at a ceremony in Gothenburg, Sweden, Muholi reflected on the significance of being recognised as a Queer-identified person, particularly against the continued discrimination, violence, and persecution faced by LGBTQIA+ communities across Africa.

"When I started my work, I never expected any accolades. I was just being responsible as a South African, as an African," they told the audience.

Muholi expressed gratitude to the international jury for recognising their practice, while emphasising that the honour extended far beyond individual achievement:

"This is not about me, this is not for me, this is for all of us."

Their acceptance speech was both a celebration and a call for solidarity with those who continue to face violence, xenophobia, displacement, and silencing. Muholi urged others to use whatever means were available to them to challenge prejudice and persecution, reinforcing the conviction that has underpinned their work as a visual activist from the outset.

The award arrives at a particularly meaningful point in Muholi's career, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Faces and Phases, their landmark portrait project, and a period of sustained international recognition through major museum exhibitions and public programmes.

Celebrating a pioneering visual activist

Friday's celebrations began with a preview of the accompanying exhibition at the Hasselblad Center, attended by Muholi, HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden, Patron of the Hasselblad Foundation, and Ingrid Pollard, the 2022 Hasselblad Award laureate.

The formal award ceremony followed that evening, honouring Muholi's contribution to the photographic medium and their profound influence on contemporary conversations around identity, representation, and human rights.

In its award citation, the Hasselblad Foundation describes Muholi as "one of the most influential photographers of our time with an impact that extends far beyond the art world." The Foundation recognises their pioneering use of photography as visual activism, combining political engagement with artistic precision to confront discrimination and affirm the dignity of Black Queer communities.

For Muholi, photography has never been solely an artistic pursuit. From the early documentary works of Only Half the Picture to the ongoing self-portrait series Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness), their practice has consistently interrogated who is represented, how images shape public perceptions and whose experiences are preserved within cultural and historical narratives.

This commitment extends beyond the photographic image itself. Through initiatives including Inkanyiso, a platform for Queer visual activist media established in 2009, and the Muholi Art Institute, founded in 2022, Muholi has created opportunities for younger artists and photographers, supporting the development of new voices and forms of cultural expression.

A major exhibition at the Hasselblad Center

The award is accompanied by Zanele Muholi: Hasselblad Award 2026, a major solo exhibition at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, on view from 10 October 2026 to 4 April 2027.

Curated by Louise Wolthers and Dragana Vujanović Östlind of the Hasselblad Foundation, together with Lufuno Ramadwa of the Muholi Art Institute, the exhibition brings together photographs from six bodies of work spanning more than two decades.

The presentation includes Only Half the Picture (2002), which documents the experiences of lesbian survivors of hate crimes; Faces and Phases (2006–ongoing), Muholi's extensive portrait archive of Black LGBTQIA+ lives; and Somnyama Ngonyama (2012–ongoing), in which the visual activist turns the camera upon themself to interrogate race, labour, identity and the historical representation of Black bodies.

Together, these works reveal the breadth of Muholi's photographic language, moving between documentary testimony, intimate portraiture and performative self-representation while maintaining a consistent commitment to visibility, dignity and collective memory.

The exhibition opened to the public on Saturday, 10 October, with a guided tour by Muholi, followed by a book signing for Faces and Phases: 2006–2026. Published by MACK to mark the project's twentieth anniversary, the third volume brings together more than 300 largely unpublished photographs alongside essays, interviews and testimonies.

The celebrations formed part of a wider programme organised by the Hasselblad Foundation, including The Mechanisms of Exclusion, a seminar exploring photography, representation, democracy and the politics of visibility, and a concert by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Muholi's honour.

The programme extended to Stockholm on 13 October, where Muholi participated in an artist talk at Moderna Museet, accompanied by a lecture from curator Tawanda Appiah.

A recognition shared

For Southern Guild, the award is an especially meaningful acknowledgement of a practice that has consistently challenged the boundaries between artistic expression and social responsibility. Muholi's work insists that Black Queer lives and histories are not peripheral to the story of contemporary photography, but fundamental to it.

Their acceptance speech returned repeatedly to the people whose experiences have shaped that work, and to those who remain vulnerable to discrimination and violence. In recognising Muholi's contribution, the Hasselblad Award also brings international attention to the communities, relationships, and histories that their practice has sought to make visible.

Read more: Zanele Muholi: Major Exhibitions and Programmes Across Europe