"I realized that photography wasn't all about taking pictures at weddings or graduation ceremonies. It was also a way to tell my own stories"
No Man’s Art Gallery is honored to present the first solo exhibition of young South African photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa. “Everything you give me my boss, will do” is a portrait of the lives of Nyaope addicted youth in the photographers township Thokoza.
Lindokuhle Sobekwa is a South African Photographer born in Katlehong 1995, Johannesburg. He got introduced to Photography in 2012 through the Of Soul and Joy Project in Buhlebuzile high school, which introduced photography in a township called Thokoza. His first teachers of photography where Bieke Depoorter, Cyprien Clément-Delmas, Thabiso Sekgala, Tjorven Bruyneel and Kutlwano Moagi. Sobekwa then went to join Live Magazine as a part time Photographer in 2013. His work has been exhibited among others, at the Goodman Gallery in South Africa, at the No Man’s Art Gallery from the Netherlands, hosted in South Africa, Iran and in Norway. In 2013, Sobekwa was part of a group show in Thokoza organised by Rubis Mecenat at the Ithuba Art Gallery in Johannesburg. His essay Nyaope was published in the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian in 2014. He further got published in the Vice Magazine and the Standaard in 2014. In 2015, Sobekwa received a scholarship to study at the Market Photo Workshop where he completed his foundation course. His Series Nyaope was exhibited in the group show called ‘Free from Happiness’ which was organised by Rubis Mecenat at the International Photo Festival of Ghent in Belgium. In 2016, he left for a Residency in Tehran Iran, with the No Man’s Art Gallery. It is in the same year that his work was displayed in the Travelling exhibition Free from my Happiness, in Perignem in Beernem Belgium and at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa. His work features features in the book ‘Free from my Happiness’ edited by Bieke Depoorter and Tjorven Bruyneel . He also takes part in the group show called ‘Fresh Produce’ organised by Assemblages and VANSA at the Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg. Lindokuhle Sobekwa is also an Assistant of the Of Soul and Joy Project Manager as well as a trainee at Mikhael Subotzky Studio. In 2017, Sobekwa got selected by the Magnum Foundation for Photography and Social Justice. The Social Justice Mentorship has drove him to develop a project close to his heart, about his sister Ziyanda. In 2018, he received the Magnum Foundation Fund to continue with his long term project Nyaope. He is currently working on a collaborative project with French Photographer Cyprien Clément-Delmas, in Daleside South Africa. In 2018 he join Magnum Photo as a nominee.
Press:
Lindokuhle Sobekwa & Mikhael Sobotzky, Vice
Lindokuhle Sobewka, Magnum Photos
Katlehong. Johannesburg. South Africa.2015. © Lindokuhle Sobekwa |