Sibande uses these mediums and techniques to help depict the human form and explore the construction of identity in a postcolonial South African context.
[5] Sibande would describe her childhood as being perfect; she states that "‘I had everything I needed, and I went to a good high school which was multiracial.
[8] She was the South African representative at the 45th 2011 Venice Biennale,[9] and her work Long Live the Dead Queen was found in murals all over the city of Johannesburg in 2010.
In her "Conversation with Madam CJ Walker" exhibit, her knowledge and skill of cloth and fashion design are apparent.
In 2013 she had seven enlarged photographs of her work displayed on the streets of French suburbs such as Ivry-sur-Seine, Vitry-sur-Seine and Choisy-le-Roi.
Sibande's sculpture draws energy from the long history of female domestic workers, during the apartheid and post-apartheid.
In an article by Leora Farber the author makes an analysis that many other critiques have said, "Sibande's theatrical quotations of the language of dress and use of dramatic poses may be related to photographic representations of the Victorian female hysteric in various stages of a hysterical attack, in that they both evoke a sense of excess.
Sophie as previously mentioned is Sibande's alter-ego, she is a domestic worker who finds peace and an escape from servitude by dreaming of emancipating herself.
[16] Sophie's life is collected and presented through a series of human-scale sculptures, molded on Sibande herself.
Sophie's working uniform is gradually transformed into the grand Victorian wear of the European elite.
[2] Placing Sophie in Victorian clothing comments on the restriction of women in these large, heavy and tightened-up dresses.
In each work Sophie portrays different personas, one being a Victorian queen, another being a general who leads an entire army to victory, she's also a beautiful woman going to a ball and even a pope at one point.
[17] Sophie makes a reappearance with Sibande's most current series, “I Came Apart at the Seams” which takes place from 2019 to the present.
[16] Sophie is also depicted in a sculpture called Sophie/Elsie, which Sibande created in honor of her great-grandmother (a domestic worker whose masters gave her "Elsie" as a Western name).