2016 ICP Infinity Award: Documentary and Photojournalism — Zanele Muholi

For more than a decade South African photographer Zanele Muholi has documented hate crimes against members of the LGBTI community in South Africa. Though the country ratified the right for gay and lesbian men and women to wed in 2006, the discrimination and violence persist. “What is lacking now, she says, “is the education to undo all of these phobias that violate LGBTI rights.”

Muholi’s personal and heartbreaking involvement in these tragic stories, ultimately led the photographer to embark on a more affirming project: Faces and Phases. Here we see the faces of lesbian and trans men and women as they are in their regular lives.

“It marks a special kind of history of ordinary people,” she says. “Pride should be a 365 day approach to life, to say, ‘This is me. This is me. This is me.’”

As part of her own healing process, Muholi turns the camera on herself for a series of intimate portraits.

Since 1985, the International Center of Photography has recognized outstanding achievements in photography with its prestigious Infinity Awards. The awards ceremony is also ICP’s primary fundraising benefit, with its revenues assisting the center's various programs.

Harbers Studios commissioned MediaStorm, on behalf of ICP, to create a short film about each of the recipients to screen at the awards ceremony and to display online. The films pay tribute to the contributions of each artist to the craft and field of photography and demonstrate ICP's commitment to them.