South Africa’s Lebohang Kganye has won the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize; a career-defining snapshot in the world of visual storytelling awarded to the creative who has made the most significant contribution to international contemporary photography in the last 12 months:
Global (31 May 2024) — Lebohang Kganye has wowed the world with her visual storytelling talents, so much so that she h won the 2024 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize as announced at London’s Photographer’s Gallery.
The prestigious award of £30,000 (over R 700,000) commends her exhibition “Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you home”, as showcased at Amsterdam’s Foam Museum.
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“Haufi nyana”, which translates to “too close” from Sesotho, reflects on the concept of home, how far, close or too close it may seem, “perhaps even simultaneously” says Lebohang.
A collection of projects spanning years, the mixed means used in her visual storytelling include animations, photography, patchwork and local literature to help the onlooker think about the many factors that created their own micro-histories.
“The influential prize which we present annually together with the Photographer’s Gallery, rewards artists and their projects recognised as having made the most significant contribution to international contemporary photography over the past 12 months,’ shares the Foundation.
Lebohang was shortlisted alongside other artists from around the world; each of whom took on visual storytelling projects that engaged with concerns ranging from heritage to equality and gender.
“Together these artists demonstrate photography’s unique capacity to reveal what is invisible, forgotten or marginalised and imagine a path to redress,” the Foundation adds.
Lebohang shares that “Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you home” is largely for and in a sense from her mother, Dimakatso.
“In 2010, her death prompted me to travel across South Africa to trace my maternal ancestry. The stories that I collected in conversations with my extended family became the source material for my work, an archive that I continue to draw upon today,” she says, sharing that being raised by women like her mother, grandmother and aunts allowed her to see life through their eyes while being fuelled to see other ways of life and hear others stories.”
“As an artist I want my work to be a mirror for others, for them to see themselves reflected,” she adds.
In beaming over her win, Lebohang says:
“This YES counters all the no’s, the maybe’s, the unresolved projects that just needed more hands, patience, and time to stop and start again, allowing for the magic to come through.”
In SA, you can visit more of her iconic work like ‘The Sea is History’ at Boschendal’s Werf; set to be up for the rest of the year.
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Sources: Various (Linked Above)
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