Arts & Culture
By Editor
Having oneโs achievements recognised by oneโs peers is important to any artist, and so itโs a great honour for artist Michelle Sank to have been named as the winner of the Portraiture Prize in the Open Category of the 2024 Sony World Photography Awards. These annual Awards are among the top prizes internationally for photography, and are geared to demonstrate โthe ways the arts reflect the world around usโ. ย
Michelle was born in Cape Town, but spent her early years living in Durban whilst visiting Cape Town regularly during this time. She returned permanently to the city of her birth aged 17 to study Fine Art at the University of Cape Town.ย
She has lived in the UK since 1987, working part-time as a lecturer in photography and in various other roles. She has always had an interest in photography but it was only in 2020 that she was able to take up photography full-time as her career.ย
Michelle explains that, โI am interested in creating sociological landscapes, interplays of human form and location that are significant in their visual, sociological and psychological nuances.โ Interestingly, although she has lived so far from Cape Town for so many years, her work now returns her to the city regularly. In fact, her winning piece in the Sony Awards โ called Zenande, Sinawe, Zinathi, and Buhle at Sea Point Pavilion, Cape Town โ is part of an ongoing series of images she has termed โBalladeโ, a title chosen to reflect the poetic and lyrical aspect of this connection to her birthplace.
The award-winning photograph highlights Michelleโs strong memories she has of Sea Point, in particular of the Promenade and the Pavilion Swimming Pool. โMy memories date from the apartheid years, so of course I remember the Pavilion public swimming pool as being for a white public only. These days when I return to Cape Town, I am struck by the fact that the Pavilion looks structurally very much like it did all those years ago โ except for one huge difference: it is totally multicultural where all ethnicities and religions can now share this special recreational facility.โย
Another photograph from the โBalladeโ series, Zhara, was selected for display at Londonโs National Portrait Gallery in 2023 as part of the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize exhibition. โI was a winner in this Prize a number of years ago, so that was also another huge honour,โ Michelle comments.
Michelle was recently involved in a separate project exhibited at the Imperial War Museum showing a collection of portrait photographs of Holocaust survivors living in Britain. She has had five published photographic books of her work to date, has worked with galleries and organisations in the UK, Europe and the USA and has won numerous photographic awards worldwide.
Having recently spent three months in Cape Town to continue her work on the โBalladeโ series, Michelle plans a return to the city for a longer period during 2025. Immersing herself in the city is likely to yield more works that showcase her love for the city and its people.
โข Published in the May 2024 issue โย Click here to start reading.
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