Santu Mofokeng

Santu Mofokeng (October 19, 1956 – January 26, 2020) was a South African news and^[1] documentary photographer^[2] who worked under the alias Mofokengâ. Mofokeng was a member of the Afrapix collective and won a Prince Claus Award.^[3]

Early life

Mofokeng was born on October 19, 1956, in Soweto, Johannesburg.

Career

While still a teenager, he began his career as a street photographer, 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.^[3]

In 1988 he started working with the African Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand (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.^[4]

Mofokeng emphasized the spiritual dimension of his work, as in the series Chasing Shadows from 1997.^[5] 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.^[6][7][8]

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).^[9]

On January 26, 2020, Mofokeng died of progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative brain disease, in Johannesburg.

Solo exhibitions

• 1990: Like Shifting Sand, Market Galleries, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 1994: Rumours / The Bloemhof Portfolio, Market Galleries, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 1995: Distorting Mirror/Townships Imagined, Worker's Library, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 1997: Chasing Shadows – Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 1998: Black Photo Album/Look at Me, Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam^{[citation needed]}
• 1998: Chasing Shadows, Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam^{[citation needed]}
• 1998: Lunarscapes, Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam^{[citation needed]}
• 1999: Black Photo Album/Look at Me, FNAC Montparnasse^{[citation needed]}
• 2000: Chasing Shadows, Transparencies International, Berlin^{[citation needed]}
• 2000: Sad Landscapes, Camouflage Gallery, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 2003: Chasing Shadows, Memling Museum, Bruges^{[citation needed]}
• 2004: Rethinking Landscape, Centre photographique d'Ile-de-France (CPIF), Pontault-Combault^{[citation needed]}
• 2004: Santu Mofokeng, David Krut Projects, New York City^[10]
• 2006: Invoice Iziko, South African National Art Museum, Cape Town^{[citation needed]}
• 2007: Invoice, Standard Bank Art Museum, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 2008: Homeland Security, Johannesburg Art Museum^{[citation needed]}
• 2008: Santu Mofokeng's Landscape, Warren Siebrits, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 2009: Mofokeng survey exhibition, Autograph ABP, London^{[citation needed]}
• 2010: Chasing Shadows, Anne Arbor Institute of Humanities, Michigan^{[citation needed]}
• 2010: Let's Talk, Arts on Main, Johannesburg^{[citation needed]}
• 2010: Remaining Past, Minshar Art Institute, Tel Aviv^{[citation needed]}
• 2011–12: Chasing Shadows, Paris, Bern, Bergen, Antwerp^[11]

Awards

• 1991: Ernest Cole Scholarship, for study at the International Center of Photography, in New York City^{[citation needed]}
• 1992: 1st Mother Jones Award for Africa^{[citation needed]}
• 1998: Künstlerhaus Worpswede Fellowship, Germany^{[citation needed]}
• 1999: Contre Jour Residency, Marseille^{[citation needed]}
• 1999: DAAD Fellowship, Worpswede, Germany^{[citation needed]}
• 2001: DAAD Fellowship, Worpswede, Germany^{[citation needed]}
• 2007: Ruth First Fellowship^{[citation needed]}
• 2009: Prince Claus Award, Netherlands^[3]
• 2016: International Photography Prize, Fondazione Fotografia Modena – Sky Arte, Italy^[12]

References

1. Diserens, Corinne (2011). Chasing Shadows - Santu Mofokeng. Germany: Prestel Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-3791345857.
2. Gevisser, Mark (23 April 2011). "Figures & Fictions at the V&A". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
3. Prince Claus Fund (2009) biography
4. O'Toole, Sean (Winter 2019). "Santu Mofokeng The Darkness And The Light". Aperture (237): 113–123.
5. Diserens, Corinne (2011). Chasing Shadows: Santu Mofokeng. Germany: Prestel Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-3-7913-4585-7.
6. Luirink, Bart (10 April 2010) blog, ZAM Africa Magazine (in Dutch)
7. Cargo Collective, biography
8. Cargo Collective, Chasing Shadows
9. Teeffelen, Walter van (2010) biography (in Dutch)
10. "The Black Photo Album/Look At Me: 1890-1950 by Santu Mofokeng – 2004 – DAVID KRUT PROJECTS". Retrieved 1 February 2020.
11. De Buren, hasing Shadows. Santu Mofokeng, Thirty Years of Photographic Essays (in Dutch)
12. "Santu Mofokeng wins international photography prize". Contemporary And (in German). Retrieved 9 April 2024.