Zanele Muholi has been awarded the Casa Africa Award for best female photographer, as well as a Fondation Blachère award, at the 8th Bamako Encounters Biennial of African Photography. During the BienniaI ceremony, seven prizes were awarded to eight artists, including fellow South African Jodi Bieber who received the European Union Prize. The jury, which comprised of Malick Sidibé; Els Barents, Director of Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography (Amsterdam, Netherlands); Annie Boulat, Director of Agence Cosmos (Paris, France); Manthia...

Zanele Muholi has been awarded the Casa Africa Award for best female photographer, as well as a Fondation Blachère award, at the 8th Bamako Encounters Biennial of African Photography. During the BienniaI ceremony, seven prizes were awarded to eight artists, including fellow South African Jodi Bieber who received the European Union Prize. The jury, which comprised of Malick Sidibé; Els Barents, Director of Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography (Amsterdam, Netherlands); Annie Boulat, Director of Agence Cosmos (Paris, France); Manthia Diawara, Writer, Filmmaker and Scholar (New York, U.S.A.); and John Fleetwood, Director of Market Photo Workshop (Johannesburg, South Africa), were asked to make selections based on three criteria. These were: the aesthetic qualities of the work; that the work be assessed solely on the basis of the 8th Bamako Encounters showcase (regardless of artists' previous work or achievements); and that photography and video - because of their technical characteristics of still and moving image - be assessed separately.

Other awards were presented as follows. The Young Talent Prize went to Baudouin Mouanda (D.R.C), The Jury Prize to Berry Bickle (Zimbabwe) and Abdoulaye Barry (Chad), The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Prize to Guy Wouete (Cameroon), The Elan to Salif Traore (Mali) and The Seydou Keita Grand Prix to Uche Okpa Iroha (Nigeria). The Fondation Blachère Prize for Emerging Artists was awarded to Burkina Faso artist Nestor Da, who earns a commission from Fondation Blachère and a residency at the Arles Photography School.

Other nominees were Mohamed Bourrouissa (Algeria), Uche Okpa Iroha (Nigeria), Baudouin Mouanda (D.R.C) and Zanele Muholi (South Africa). All five artists will be exhibited at Fondation Blachère and commissioned to make work for an exhibition which will be produced in partnership with Musée des Confluences in Lyon, France.

Zanele Muholi has also recently been awarded a Fanny Ann Eddy Accolade by the International Resource Network in Africa (IRN-Africa) for her outstanding contributions in the study of sexuality in Africa. The award was presented at the recent 'Genders & Sexualities in Africa' conference held in Syracuse, New York. 'Zanele’s work is multidimensional and captures so many complex social issues that it could rightly be argued that she penetrates society with non-conventional gazes and truths', said Sybille Ngo Nyeck of IRN-Africa. The awards were established two years ago by Nyeck to give recognition to young African scholars who produce knowledge on sexualities and genders.

On receiving her award, Muholi remarked that 'we have learnt a lot from people who have fought for the benefit of many people; in my case I take pictures that speak to a lot of people from South Africa and beyond, for people to know that we exist'. She pointed out that LGBTI activists can and should learn a lot about the life of Fanny Ann Eddy who was brutally murdered in 2004 while working alone in the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association’s offices. Eddy is considered as Sierra Leone’s most outstanding activist for the rights of sexual minorities. She has been described as someone who bravely presented the personal embodiment of the existence of lesbians in Africa, something that many African leaders still seek to deny.