b. 1986, USA. Nichole Sobecki is a Nairobi-based artist, photographer, and filmmaker whose major works explore humanity’s intrinsic relationship with the natural world, the dynamics of power, and the potential for change. 

Born in New York, Sobecki graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Political Science. She began her career focusing on issues of identity, conflict, and human rights across Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria. From 2012 to 2015, she led the East Africa video bureau of Agence France-Presse before fully immersing herself in documentary photography.

Sobecki’s works have been widely exhibited at prestigious venues, including The United Nations Headquarters and Photoville in New York City, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco, the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, Neimënster Abbey in Luxembourg and The Nikola Rukaj Gallery in Toronto, among others.

Her ongoing body of work, Where Our Land Was, documents the profound human consequences of transformative environmental change and climate violence in Somalia. In Body as Battleground, she interrogates how America’s war on reproductive rights affects access to safe and affordable care for survivors of sexual violence, both domestically and abroad. With Forest Guardians, Nichole explores the critical ecological role of the Congo Basin, illuminating its importance in the balance of our planet’s ecosystems. As a National Geographic Explorer, she is currently developing Natura, a photography series and film that captures the evolution of motherhood in an era of unprecedented ecological change.

In 2022, Sobecki was honored with an ASME Award for Cheetahs for Sale, which investigates the trafficking network draining Africa of its cheetah cubs and highlights the efforts of Somalilanders to combat this illegal trade. In 2021, she was shortlisted for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) for Where Our Land Was. Her powerful imagery documenting Europe’s response to the African migration crisis earned her the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Prize in New Media in 2018, while her coverage of the Westgate mall attacks in Kenya garnered her a nomination as a Rory Peck Awards News Finalist in 2015. Her work has also received accolades from Pictures of the Year, the One World Media Awards, the Alexandra Boulat Award for Photojournalism, The Magenta Foundation, and the Jacob Burns Film Center, among others.

Through her photography and films, Nichole seeks to weave narratives that invite viewers to engage deeply with the lives of those represented—their joys, challenges, and intrinsic humanity. In a world filled with discord and distraction, she believes that a well-crafted story has the power to foster empathy and inspire a more conscious existence. She is a passionate teacher, workshop leader, and speaker.