By Veuve Clicquot’s Emotions of the Sun Exhibition has brought the Maison’s radiant solaire spirit to Cape Town this summer. Presented in collaboration with the iconic Magnum Photos agency, the world-travelled exhibition showcases eight acclaimed photographers, each given creative carte blanche to interpret the emotional, cultural and universal power of the Sun. Now open at Youngblood Gallery on Bree Street, the photographic exhibition runs until 21 December 2025, marking its South African debut.
Among the international collective is celebrated South African photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa, whose series Blooming in the Sun traces the gentle sunrise of springtime in his home country. His images reveal the bond between people and landscape through warm, graceful compositions grounded in light, life and renewal. For the Johannesburg-based photographer, seeing the work return to the land that shaped it is profoundly grounding.
“When Veuve Clicquot reached out, I felt a mix of surprise and gratitude,” said Sobekwa and immediately recognised the depth of the invitation. “The idea of interpreting sunlight felt both simple and deeply layered, because where I grew up, light is never just light,” he explains. “It holds stories: mornings in the Eastern Cape, moments of warmth and the way the sun settles on people when they pause from their work.” He approached the commission with quiet sincerity and tenderness. “I wasn’t trying to create something grand; I wanted to be honest about my relationship with the sun and how it becomes part of our daily rituals,” he says.
Returning to the sensations that shaped his earliest encounters with light, Sobekwa reflects on the intimacy of the everyday. “In the township where I grew up, sunlight carried memory, warmth and sometimes even melancholy,” he shares. He focused on gestures that feel deeply lived-in: children at play, elders resting outdoors, familiar moments illuminated in gentle, golden tones. “I wanted the images to feel like a conversation between the Sun and the people who live under it, day after day,” he says. “This commission became a chance to reflect on where I come from, and turn those personal reflections into something others might recognise.”
Veuve Clicquot’s solaire identity, threaded with the Maison’s emblematic yellow, naturally finds its way into Sobekwa’s approach – not as a literal hue, but as an emotional undertone. “I thought more about what yellow feels like: warmth, hope and that gentle light in everyday moments,” he says. “That brightness and optimism became more about feeling than display. I looked for small, honest moments where light brings a sense of upliftment – a gentle kind of hope.”
Following showings in Milan and New York, it is fitting that this body of work now returns to South Africa. “Exhibiting the images in the place that shaped me gives them a different weight, almost like they’re coming home to speak in their own language,” he says. By photographing familiar spaces with deep affection, Sobekwa adds a rooted, distinctly South African voice to an international dialogue.
“The Sun is our ultimate muse,” says Thomas Mulliez, President of Veuve Clicquot. “It’s a source of warmth and creativity, deeply intertwined with our philosophy. Cape Town, with its radiant light and vibrant creative community, embodies this spirit perfectly. It feels only natural for Emotions of the Sun to find a home here, a city that lives and breathes the optimism and artistry we celebrate.”
Tickets to the Emotions of the Sun Exhibition are priced at R200 via howler.co.za or at the door, which includes a glass of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label as well as access to the immersive exhibition, Sun on Your Plate Café and gifting boutique. Open now until 21 December.
Location: Youngblood Gallery, 70 Bree Street, Cape Town
Opening times: Monday to Sunday, 10am – 6pm