Santu Mofokeng (October 19, 1956 – January 26, 2020) was a South African news and documentary photographer who worked under the alias ''Mofokengâ''. Mofokeng was a member of the Afrapix collective and won a

Prince Claus Award The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996, named in honor of Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It receives an annual subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Fund has presented the international Prince Claus Awards annually si ...

.Prince Claus Fund (2009
biography
/ref>

Early life

Mofokeng was born on October 19, 1956, in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a se ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

Career

While still a teenager, he began his career as a

street photographer Street photography (also sometimes called candid photography) is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Although there is a difference between street and ca ...

, went on to work as an assistant in a darkroom, and then worked as a news photographer. Subsequently, he joined the collective Afrapix, working under the alias ''Mofokengâ''. Initially he mainly documented the struggle against

apartheid in South Africa Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid ...

. In 1988 he started working with the African Studies Institute at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

(Wits), where he worked alongside Revisionist Charles Van Onselen. Mofokeng's writing improved significantly during his time at the University. He spent much of the next 10 years collecting photographs of South Africa's middle class. While at Wits, Mofokeng realized the importance of answering even the simplest of questions in photography, questions like “What are you doing?” and “Is this what you mean?”. This process helped Mofokeng transform the way he looked at photography and find the true meaning of each photo he took. Mofokeng emphasized the spiritual dimension of his work, as in the series ''Chasing Shadows'' from 1997. After starting off with street and news photography, he specialized in landscapes. Later projects show his deep concern for the condition of the (biophysical) environment at the beginning of the 21st century.Cargo Collective
biography
/ref> At his exhibition ''Let's Talk'' in 2010, he explained that the essence is not what you see in these photographs, but what you don't see (but feel).'' On January 26, 2020, Mofokeng died of

progressive supranuclear palsy Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a late-onset degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain. The condition leads to symptoms including loss of balance, slowing of movement, difficulty ...

, a degenerative brain disease, in Johannesburg.

Solo exhibitions

*1990: ''Like Shifting Sand'', Market Galleries,

*1994: ''Rumours / The Bloemhof Portfolio'', Market Galleries, Johannesburg *1995: ''Distorting Mirror/Townships Imagined'', Worker's Library, Johannesburg *1997: ''Chasing Shadows – Gertrude Posel Gallery'',

, Johannesburg *1998: ''Black Photo Album/Look at Me'', Netherlands Photo Institute,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

*1998: ''Chasing Shadows'', Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam *1998: ''Lunarscapes'', Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam *1999: ''Black Photo Album/Look at Me'', FNAC

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montpar ...

*2000: ''Chasing Shadows'', Transparencies International,

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

*2000: ''Sad Landscapes'', Camouflage Gallery, Johannesburg *2003: ''Chasing Shadows'', Memling Museum,

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Scienc ...

*2004: ''Rethinking Landscape'', Centre photographique d'Ile-de-France (CPIF),

Pontault-Combault Pontault-Combault () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

*2007: ''Invoice'', Standard Bank Art Museum, Johannesburg *2008: ''Homeland Security'', Johannesburg Art Museum *2008: ''Santu Mofokeng's Landscape'', Warren Siebrits, Johannesburg *2009: ''Mofokeng survey exhibition'', Autograph ABP, London *2010: ''Chasing Shadows'', Anne Arbor Institute of Humanities,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

*2010: ''Let's Talk'', Arts on Main, Johannesburg *2010: ''Remaining Past'', Minshar Art Institute,

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

*2011–12: ''Chasing Shadows'', Paris, Bern,

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, AntwerpDe Buren
''hasing Shadows. Santu Mofokeng, Thirty Years of Photographic Essays''

Awards

* 1991: Ernest Cole Scholarship, for study at the

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

, in New York City * 1992: 1st

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

Award for Africa * 1998: Künstlerhaus Worpswede Fellowship, Germany * 1999: Contre Jour Residency,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

* 1999: DAAD Fellowship,

Worpswede Worpswede ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Worpsweed'') is a municipality in the district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Teufelsmoor, northeast of Bremen. The small town itself is located near the Weyerberg hill. It has been ...

, Germany * 2001: DAAD Fellowship, Worpswede, Germany *2007: Ruth First Fellowship *2009:

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

*2016: International Photography Prize, Fondazione Fotografia Modena – Sky Arte, Italy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mofokeng, Santu 1956 births 2020 deaths South African photographers People from Soweto