African Photobook of the Year: The Winner

The publications entered for the 2024 edition of the Eiger African Photobook of the Year Award – aimed at artists from across the African continent – covered a broad spectrum of formats and approaches, ranging from documentary series to fine-art and conceptual projects. Four of them were selected as this year’s finalists: Léonard Pongo (Belgium/Congo), Asmaa Waguih Eltobi (Egypt), Sabelo Mlangeni (South Africa), and Fethi Sahraoui (Algeria). Yet it was Sahraoui’s Triangle of Views, released in 2022 by the Algerian publishing house La Chambre Claire, that ultimately convinced the jury. The Algerian photographer was chosen as the overall winner, receiving a monetary prize of 12,500 US Dollars. 

The title, Triangle of Views, is reflected in the publication’s physical format, which has the shape of an equilateral triangle when the book is closed. When open, it becomes a square, reminiscent of two outstretched hands resting side by side with the palms facing up. This represents the two featured long-term documentary projects, created in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The first series, Stadiumphilia, focuses on the male collective experience of time and space in Algerian football stadiums. The visual poetry of these black and white crowd shots continues in the second part of the book, Escaping the Heatwave, which chronicles the same group as they make their way to the beaches near Oran in an attempt to escape the city heat.