Zanele Muholi Wins Hasselblad Award, Photography's Most Prestigious $224K Prize

Zanele Muholi, the South African photographer and visual activist born in Umlazi, Durban in 1972, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Hasselblad Award, the prize widely regarded as the world's most prestigious honor given to a living photographer. The award carries SEK 2,000,000 (reported variously as approximately $217,000 to $224,000 USD depending on conversion), a gold medal, and a Hasselblad camera valued at over $7,000.

The Hasselblad Foundation, which has presented the award annually since 1980, cited Muholi's use of portraiture to document and celebrate Black queer life. "Zanele Muholi stands as one of the most influential contemporary photographers, with an impact that reaches far beyond the art world. They use portraiture to articulate and celebrate the presence, depth, and dignity of the Black LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa and the rest of the world," the foundation wrote in its statement. The organization further praised a practice that blends "political urgency and formal mastery" in "challenging prejudice and discrimination while creating alternative visual histories."

Muholi, who uses she/they pronouns, responded by framing the recognition as communal rather than personal. "For years, my work has been about visibility and resistance. It has been about creating an archive so that no one can say, 'We did not know.' When this honour comes, I receive it on behalf of my community; those who have been erased, those who are still here, and those who are yet to see themselves reflected with dignity."

Muholi grew up under apartheid, a formative experience that the foundation identifies as profoundly shaping their practice. After studying Advanced Photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg, Muholi completed an MFA in Documentary Media at Ryerson University in Toronto in 2009. Their work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, Tate Modern in London, SFMOMA, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, and the Serralves Museum in Porto. In Sweden specifically, solo exhibitions at Fotografiska in 2018 and Bildmuseet in 2021 preceded this recognition. Earlier awards include the ICP Spotlights Award in 2022, the Spectrum International Prize for Photography in 2020, and the Lucie Award for Humanitarian Photography in 2019.

The official ceremony takes place October 9 at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, the foundation's exhibition space within the Gothenburg Museum of Art. A solo exhibition of Muholi's work opens there the same day and remains on view through April 24, 2027. On October 13, Muholi will present an artist talk at Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

A full week of public programming surrounds the award in Gothenburg, including a seminar with the County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland, a concert with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and a book launch alongside the exhibition opening. The 2026 jury was chaired by Anna Planas, Artistic Director of Paris Photo, and included Johan Sjöström, Curator at the Gothenburg Museum of Art.

Past Hasselblad laureates include Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Carrie Mae Weems, Dayanita Singh, Alfredo Jaar, and Ingrid Pollard, placing Muholi in a lineage that defines the award's half-century of recognizing photography's most consequential practitioners.