Mikhael Subotzky (born

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa, 1981) is a South African artist based in Johannesburg. His installation, film, video and photographic work have been exhibited widely in museums and galleries, and received awards including the KLM Paul Huf Award, W. Eugene Smith Grant, Oskar Barnack Award and the Discovery Award at

Rencontres d'Arles The Rencontres d'Arles (formerly called ''Rencontres internationales de la photographie d'Arles'') is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historian ...

. He has published the books ''Beaufort West'' (2008), ''Retinal Shift'' (2012) and, with Patrick Waterhouse, ''Ponte City'' (2014). Subotzky is a member of

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

and his work is held in the collections of the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

in Paris and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York.

Life and work

Subotzky graduated from the

Michaelis School of Fine Art The Michaelis School of Fine Art is a public university, public tertiary education, tertiary art school in the Cape Town suburb of Gardens, Cape Town, Gardens. It was founded in 1925 and is named after its benefactor, Max Michaelis. It is the Fin ...

at the University of Cape Town in 2004. For his book ''Beaufort West'', Subotzky photographed in and around a prison built within a traffic circle in the town of Beaufort West. For six years he and Patrick Waterhouse collaborated in photographing in

Ponte City Ponte City is a skyscraper in the Berea, Gauteng, Berea district of Johannesburg, South Africa, just next to Hillbrow. It was built in 1975 to a height of , and was the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa for 48 years, until overtaken in 2 ...

, a 54-storey cylindrical building in Johannesburg – the tallest residential tower block in Africa – resulting in their book and exhibition ''Ponte City''. They photographed the residents, interiors and exteriors of the building, and produced a series of giant tableaux, made up of hundreds of contact sheets, presented in towering light boxes. Their book ''Ponte City'' won the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2015. Subotzky became a

nominee in 2007 and a full member in 2011.

Publications

*''Beaufort West.'' With an essay by Jonny Steinberg. **London: Chris Boot, 2008. . **London: Chris Boot, 2014. . Special edition. *''Retinal Shift.'' Göttingen:

Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher based in Göttingen, Germany. Founded in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl, it publishes photobooks. Overview The company was started by Gerhard Steidl.Bill Kouwenhoven, "Off to see the wizard", ''British Journa ...

, 2012. . Edited by Ivan Vladislavic, texts by Anthea Buys and Sean O'Toole. Catalogue for his Standard Bank Young Artist Exhibition. *''Mikhael Subotzky: photographe = photographer.'' Montreuil: l'Oeil, 2007. . Text in English and French.

Publications with others

* ''Ponte City.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2014. . With Patrick Waterhouse, edited by Ivan Vladislavic. Catalog of an exhibition held at Le Bal, Paris and Fotomuseum Antwerp, Belgium in 2014. *''Vos Reves Nous Derangent.'' Paris: Actes Sud, 2013. . Photographs by Subotzky, Dulce Pinzon and Achinto Bhadra, texts by Mathieu Potte-Bonneville and Bertrand Ogilvie; includes text in English by Fred Ritchin translated into French by Sally Laruelle.

Exhibitions

*2005: ''Die Vier Hoeke'' = ''The Four Corners'', Pollsmoor Prison, Cape Town, South Africa. *2008: ''New Photography: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky,''

, New York. With Josephine Meckseper. *2009: ''Still Revolution: Suspended in Time,'' Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, May–June 2009. Group exhibition with Subotzky, Barbara Astman, Walead Beshty,

Mat Collishaw Matthew "Mat" Collishaw Royal Photographic Society#Distinctions and qualifications, Hon. FRPS (born 6 January 1966) is a contemporary British artist based in London. Work Collishaw's work uses photography and video. With an early foundati ...

, Stan Douglas, Idris Khan, Trevor Paglen, and

Martha Rosler Martha Rosler (born 1943) is an American artist. She is a conceptual artist who works in photography and photo text, video art, video, installation art, installation, sculpture, site-specific art, site-specific and performance art, performance, a ...

. *2011: ''Figures & Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography,''

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London. Group exhibition. *2012: ''Retinal Shift,'' Standard Bank Young Artist 2012, Iziko South African Museum. *2014: ''Ponte City,'' Le Bal, Paris, January–April 2014. With Patrick Waterhouse.

Awards

* * *2007: Young Photographer category, Ville de Perpignan Rémi Ochlik award, Visa pour l'image, Perpignan. *2007: KLM Paul Huf Award, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam. *2008: W. Eugene Smith Grant from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund. *2009: Oskar Barnack Award for ''Beaufort West''.Leica announces the winner of the Oskar Barnack Award 2009
, Photography Monthly, 10 July 2009. Accessed 17 May 2014. *2011: Discovery Award,

, with Patrick Waterhouse, for ''Ponte City''. *2015: Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2015, with Patrick Waterhouse, for ''Ponte City''.

Collections

Subotzky's work is held in the following permanent collections: *

, Paris: 2 prints and an ensemble de 60 photographs (as of 8 January 2025) * Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town: 2 works (as of 8 January 2025) *

, New York: 7 prints (as of 8 January 2025)

References

External links

*
Subotzky's profile at Goodman GallerySubotzky's profile at Magnum PhotosSubotzky & Waterhouse on Ponte City
(3 min video)
21 Icons - Subotzky - Short Film
(3 min video)
Subotzky: Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2012
(4 min video)
Subotzky: To see as a photographer sees
(14 min video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Subotzky, Mikhael 1981 births Living people Magnum photographers South African photographers Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize winners