DBPFP25: Lindokuhle Sobekwa

Lindokuhle Sobekwa (b, 1995, South Africa) is shortlisted for the book I carry Her photo with Me, published by MACK in 2024.   

Colour photograph of a woman sat in a bathroom looking down. She holds a sponge in her hand.

DBPFP25: Lindokuhle Sobekwa

Lindokuhle Sobekwa (b, 1995, South Africa) is shortlisted for the book I carry Her photo with Me, published by MACK in 2024.   

The deeply personal project began when Sobekwa found a family portrait with his older sister Ziyanda’s face cut out. It remains the only photograph he has of her. One day when the siblings were seven and thirteen, she chased him and he was hit by a car and badly injured. She disappeared hours later, only returning a decade later, ill. By this time Sobekwa had become a photographer. He tried to take her portrait, but stopped when she reacted angrily. Ziyanda died soon after.  

I carry Her photo with Me combines photographs, handwritten notes and family snapshots. Through this scrapbook-like publication Sobekwa explores the memory of his sister and the wider implications of such disappearances – a troubling part of South Africa’s history. The work is part of his wider practice on fragmentation, poverty and the long-reaching ramifications of apartheid and colonialism across all levels of South African society.

Colour photograph of people stood on a street. The photo is marked with red annotations saying: “The lady that helped me stay here”, “My father was here”, “This is where the car hit me” and “Khumalo Street.”

South Africa. Johannesburg. Thokoza. 2023. Khumalo street where accident happened. © Lindokuhle Sobekwa

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Image of a closed book that features a colour photo of a clothes hung out to dry on a washing line in a street. The street has a dirt road and small corrugated iron buildings. The book has a scrapbook aesthetic.

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Employing a scrapbook aesthetic with handwritten notes, I carry Her photo with Me is a means for Sobekwa to engage both with the memory of his sister and the wider implications of such disappearances – a troubling part of South Africa’s history. The book complements his wider work on fragmentation, poverty, and the long-reaching ramifications of apartheid and colonialism across all levels of South African society.

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