The South African artist was announced as the winner of the prestigious Börsche Prize at the Photographers’ Gallery in London on May 15.
The influential prize, held in partnership with the Deutsche Börsche Photography Foundation, recognises artists and their projects that have made the most significant contribution to international contemporary photography over the past 12 months.
Lindokuhle Sobekwa (b. 1995, South Africa) was awarded the Prize for his book I Carry Her Photo with Me, published by MACK in 2024. This deeply personal project began when Sobekwa discovered a family portrait with his older sister Ziyanda’s face cut out. He later found the missing piece tucked inside his mother’s Bible. It remains the only photograph he has of his sister.
A possible reason why the mother cut the photograph is that one day, when the siblings were seven and thirteen, Ziyanda had chased him; he was hit by a car and badly injured. Traumatised by the accident, Ziyanda left home a few hours later. She only returned a decade later, by which time she was very ill. In the intervening years, Sobekwa had become a photographer. When she came back, Sobekwa tried to take Ziyanda’s portrait, but stopped when she reacted angrily. She died soon after that.
I Carry Her Photo with Me documents Sobekwa's photographic search for the life his sister lived and the people she met. Combining photographs, handwritten notes, and family snapshots in this scrapbook-like publication, Sobekwa explores the memory of his sister, his family history, and the wider implications of disappearances in South Africa. The work is part of his broader practice on fragmentation, poverty, and the far-reaching ramifications of apartheid and colonialism across all levels of South African society.
A ZAM review of the book is here.
