Photojournalist
Kevin Carter
South Africa · 1960–1994
Kevin Carter covered South Africa's township wars and, in Sudan in 1993, made the Pulitzer-winning vulture photograph. His life, work and the debate it started.
South African photographers
81 artists
No country in Africa has produced more celebrated photographers than South Africa, and few photographers anywhere have worked under harder conditions. In the 1950s Drum magazine gave Black photographers a platform; under apartheid, Peter Magubane was jailed and banned for his pictures, Ernest Cole was forced into exile after House of Bondage, and Sam Nzima's photograph of Hector Pieterson in 1976 turned the Soweto uprising into a world story. David Goldblatt spent sixty years recording how apartheid was built into the landscape.
In the early 1990s Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek, Greg Marinovich and João Silva — the Bang-Bang Club — covered the township violence that came before the 1994 election. Since then a new generation, led by Zanele Muholi, has turned South African photography towards identity, memory and the body. These are the country's photographers, most looked-up first.
Profiles
Photojournalist
Ken Oosterbroek
South Africa · 1963–1994
Ken Oosterbroek (1962–1994), chief photographer of The Star and a Bang-Bang Club member, was killed in Thokoza days before the 1994 election.
Visual activist
Zanele Muholi
South Africa · 1972–
Zanele Muholi, the South African photographer and visual activist, documents Black LGBTQIA+ lives in Faces and Phases and turns the camera on themself.
Photojournalist
Greg Marinovich
South Africa · 1962–
Greg Marinovich won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography, co-wrote The Bang-Bang Club and later investigated the 2012 Marikana massacre.
Photographer
Ernest Cole
South Africa · 1940–1990
Ernest Cole photographed daily life under apartheid and published House of Bondage (1967) in exile. His lost negatives were found in a Swedish bank in 2017.
Photojournalist
João Silva
South Africa · 1966–
João Silva, the Bang-Bang Club photographer, covered wars for The New York Times and returned to work after losing both legs in Afghanistan in 2010.
Photographer
Roger Ballen
South Africa · 1950–
Roger Ballen, a New York-born photographer in Johannesburg since 1982, moved from portraits of rural South Africa to staged, unsettling black-and-white scenes.
Wildlife photographer
Austin Stevens
South Africa · 1950–
Austin Stevens, the South African-born herpetologist and wildlife photographer, hosted Snakemaster and once lived 107 days in a cage with 36 venomous snakes.
Photojournalist
Sam Nzima
South Africa · 1934–2018
Sam Nzima photographed the dying Hector Pieterson in the 1976 Soweto uprising, one of apartheid's defining images, and paid for it with harassment and hiding.
Photographer
David Goldblatt
South Africa · 1930–2018
David Goldblatt (1930–2018) photographed South Africa's mines, suburbs, commuters and buildings for six decades and founded the Market Photo Workshop.
Photojournalist
Anton Hammerl
South Africa · 1969–2011
Anton Hammerl, a South African-Austrian photojournalist, was killed by Libyan government forces near Brega in April 2011; his death was hidden for six weeks.
Photographer and painter
Zwelethu Mthethwa
South Africa · 1960–
Zwelethu Mthethwa won acclaim for colour portraits of South Africans at home. In 2017 he was convicted of murdering Nokuphila Kumalo and jailed for 18 years.
Photojournalist
Peter Magubane
South Africa · 1932–2024
Peter Magubane photographed Sharpeville, the 1976 Soweto uprising and Mandela's road to the presidency, and spent 586 days in solitary confinement.
More artists
Most looked-up first. Names link to our profile, or to Wikipedia where we do not have one yet. Short descriptions from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons. Image credits
Jo Ractliffe · 1961–South African photographer and video artist
- Mary Sibande · 1982–
South African artist
Steve Bloom · 1953–South African photographer and writer
Kendell Geers · 1968–South African artist
Sam Haskins · 1926–2009British photographer
- Barry Lategan · 1935–2024
English photographer
- Tracey Rose · 1974–
South African artist
Adam Broomberg · 1970–
Nandipha Mntambo · 1982–South African artist who has become famous for her sculptures, videos and photographs
- Candice Breitz · 1972–
South African white artist who works primarily in video and photography
- Pieter Hugo · 1976–
South African photographer
Henrik Purienne · 1977–
Fiona Ayerst · 1965–South African photographer
- Lebohang Kganye · 1990–
South African visual artist
Robin Rhode · 1976–South African artist based in Berlin
- Santu Mofokeng · 1956–2020
South African photographer
- Grey Villet · 1927–2000
South African photographer
Jodi Bieber · 1966–South African photographer
- Alf Kumalo · 1930–2012
South African photographer
- Gary Schneider · 1954–
South African-born American photographer
- Mikhael Subotzky · 1981–
South African photographer
Jenna Bass · 1986–South African film director, photographer and screenwriter
Sue Williamson · 1941–South African artist
- Brent Stirton · 1969–
South African photojournalist
- Willem Boshoff · 1951–
South African artist
- Berni Searle · 1964–
South African artist
- Nontsikelelo Veleko · 1977–
South African photographer
Omar Badsha · 1945–South African artist and activist
- Guy Tillim · 1962–
South African photojournalist
- Constance Stuart Larrabee · 1914–2000
South African photographer
- Sabelo Mlangeni · 1980–
South African photographer
- Andries Botha · 1952–
South African sculptor and photographer
- Lindokuhle Sobekwa · 1995–
South African documentary photographer
- Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin · 1874–1954
South African photographer
- Andrzej Sawa · 1941–
Polish-South African photojournalist
- Buhlebezwe Siwani · 1987–
South African multidisciplinary artist
- David Lurie · 1951–
South African photographer
- George Hallett · 1942–2020
South African photographer
Jeannette Unite · 1964–South African artist
Mbali Dhlamini · 1990–South African artist
Gille de Vlieg · 1940–South African photographer
- Moshekwa Langa · 1975–
contemporary artist
- Vera Elkan · 1908–2008
South African photographer
- Lidudumalingani Mqombothi
South African writer, filmmaker and photographer
Neo Ntsoma · 1972–South African photographer
- John Liebenberg · 1958–2020
South African photographer
- Eric Miller · 1951–
South African photographer
Gulshan KhanSouth African photographer
Ashley Walters · 1983–South African artist
- Cedric Nunn · 1957–
South African photographer
- Tony Gum · 1995–
South African artist
- Gisèle Wulfsohn · 1957–2011
South African photographer
- Thabiso Sekgala · 1981–2014
South African photographer
Frank Marshall · 1985–South African photographer
- Abrie Fourie · 1969–
South African photographer
- Steven Bosch · 1978–
South African photographer
- Colla Swart · 1930–2023
South African photographer
Ruth Seopedi Motau · 1968–South African photographer
Anja Marais · 1974–South African sculptor and multi-disciplinary artist
- Minnette Vári · 1968–
South African artist
Carla Liesching · 1985–South African photographer
- Svea Josephy · 1969–
South African artist
- Phumzile Khanyile · 1991–
South African photographer
- Michael Meyersfeld · 1940–
South African photographer
- Hugh Exton · 1864–1955
South African photographer
- Tracy Edser · 1982–
South African photojournalist
- Leslie Hammond
South African photographer
Obie Oberholzer · 1947–South African photographer