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In this haunting self-portrait, Zanele Muholi presents themself with an arrangement of white, finely grooved industrial hoses that wrap around their naked upper body and head in several circular layers. These everyday objects take on an unusual use and meaning that remains enigmatic: the hoses could be interpreted as clothing, jewellery, restraints, or a halo. The composition is austere, with the eyes precisely in the centre of the image. An invitation to look closely. The black circle in the background of the image, interrupted by two horizontal white stripes, intersects with the arrangement of hoses. The foreground and background merge, but Zanele Muholi's direct gaze remains the focal point.

Zanele Muholi describes themself as a ‘visual activist’. Since 2007, Muholi has been portraying discriminated minorities, especially black, homosexual women, whereby Muholi understands photographic work as an expression of a new self-confidence of the LGBTQIA+ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersexual, asexual, +) in Africa. Although LGBTQIA+ rights have been protected by the South African constitution since 1996, attacks and homophobic hate crimes are still omnipresent. Zanele Muholi is themself a non-binary person, i.e. a person who does not identify exclusively as male or female.