Mofokeng Santu

Santu Mofokeng was born in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg. He began to develop his photographic abilities from his teenage years as a street photographer, while working as a darkroom assistant, and then as a news photographer. His independent style is apparent in his renowned photographs of apartheid South Africa.  Eschewing the conventional method of documenting white-on-black violence, many of his photographs feature shadows, mist and movement, elements that conceal rather than expose. 

In 1982, he started working for Afrapix, a photographers’ collective aimed to propose photography as activism. His research, especially during the years he worked at the African Studies Institute, was also focused on his role as a documentary photographer, his relationship with the people depicted and with the potential audience of his work.