Johannesburg-based artist Lebohang Kganye has won the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2024, cementing her status as one of the most prominent voices in contemporary African art.
The 33-year-old South African artist, known for her innovative approach to photographic montage, performance, and film animation, was awarded the £30,000 prize at a ceremony held last night at The Photographers’ Gallery in London.
Lebohang Kganye
Kganye’s award-winning work, Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you home, was initially displayed at the Foam Museum in Amsterdam, and now forms part of a group exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery, showcasing alongside the works of shortlisted artists Valie Export, Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, and Hrair Sarkissian.
The exhibition, which runs until June 2, will then move to the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Frankfurt from June 13 to September 22, 2024.
The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in the realms of art and documentary photography, recognizes artists whose projects have made significant contributions to contemporary international photography over the past year. Kganye’s Haufi nyana?, a Sesotho term meaning “too close?”, offers a deeply personal exploration of heritage, home, and identity.
Through life-sized cut-out figures of family members and silhouettes drawn from family photo albums, her work probes the legacies of apartheid and reflects her journey of self-discovery as a young South African woman.
In her acceptance speech, Kganye highlighted the work’s profound personal meaning, linking it to her mother’s legacy: “This work is really based on research that I’ve been doing since the moment that my mother passed away. This moment is a celebration of the legacy she’s left me, my inheritance, my heritage… and also finding my identity as a young South African woman.”
Kganye joins a select group of South African artists who have previously won the prize, including Mikhael Subotzky (with Patrick Waterhouse) in 2015 and Adam Broomberg (with Oliver Chanarin) in 2013.
The win also underscores the enduring influence of South Africa’s Market Photo Workshop, founded by David Goldblatt and attended by notable photographers such as Zanele Muholi, Jo Ratcliffe, and Kganye herself.
This year’s award also reflects a growing commitment to diversity, following criticism in recent years over a lack of winners from underrepresented backgrounds.
Since 2020, the prize has been awarded to three artists of color, including Samuel Fosso in 2023.
Anne-Marie Beckmann, director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and a longtime judge, praised Kganye’s work as a “risk-taking exploration of family history that opens up important discussions about the realities and consequences of apartheid.”
She added, “There is a powerful conversation running through the work of all nominated artists this year, a vital conversation about displacement, hidden histories, and unheard voices.”
