Guy Tillim (born 1962) is a
South African photographer known for his work focusing on troubled regions of
Sub-Saharan Africa.[1][2] A member of the country's
white minority, Tillim was born in
Johannesburg in 1962.[3][1][2] He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1983, and he also spent time at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg.[4][2][1] His photographs and projects have been exhibited internationally and form the basis of several of Tillim's published books.[5][6][7]
The website African Success has described him as one of South Africa's "foremost photographers", whilst the
Daily Maverick site has referred to him as "arguably SA's finest photographer" after
David Goldblatt.[3][8][9][10]
Early career
Tillim first became professionally involved in photography as a photojournalist in 1986.[11][8][3] Until 1990, he worked with the
Afrapix collective, a group of South African documentary photographers providing a unique conduit of photography to world media during apartheid, alongside other prominent figures in South African photography, including
David Goldblatt, Steve Hilton-Barber, and
Omar Badsha.[12][13][11][8][3] During much of this time, he worked as a freelance photographer for both local and foreign media, including
Reuters (1986 to 1988) and
Agence France Press (1993 to 1994).[11][14][3]
His work during this period was hugely focused on the hostile political climate during
Apartheid in South Africa.[15][4][12][16] The photojournalists of the era, many of whom also worked with the Afrapix collective, were photographing often violent scenes of riots, war, and poverty on the black citizens of South Africa.[12][4]
Post-Apartheid Work
After the Afrapix collective dissolved in 1991 and apartheid was politically resolved in 1994, Tillim's work shifted to document the lasting effects of South Africa's almost 50 year-long war on its black citizens.[17][18][19] Many of his most significant bodies of work carry this theme, such as Johannesburg (May, 2005) and Jo'burg Downtown, which include photographs of scenes and dwellers of the city.[15][6] Of the latter, Johannesburg museum curator
Okwui Enwezor said that "as a series, Jo'burg represents a practice of post-apartheid documentary photography that links contemporary South Africa to its own history."[6] In other work, such as Things as They Seem (2004), he focuses on the architecture of the city, saying in an interview that "these photos were taken in places I knew, places where I had worked and covered news events."[20] He stated that he "had always wanted to return and try to find it, try to describe it in some way."[20] These works and others stood out in the global discussion of South African political climate.[12][4][6][17][20][16]
In more recent years, Tillim's work has shifted from the themes of his career from the 80s to the early 2000s.[21] In 2014, he participated in a collaborative exhibit at the
Museum für Moderne Kunst entitled The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory revisited by Contemporary African Artists.[21] In contrast to his earlier work, it reexamines
Dante Alighieri's poem through art.[21]
Departure. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Michael Stevenson Contemporary, 2003.
Kunhinga Portraits. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Michael Stevenson Contemporary, 2003. Photographs taken in the town of Kunhinga,
Bié Province,
Angola, featuring portraits of displaced Angolans fleeing government forces in February 2002, during the final months of the
Angolan Civil War.
Petros Village. Rome: Punctum, 2006. Photographs documenting daily life over a two-week period in the village of Petros, central Malawi.
Congo Democratic. Renate Wiehager; Cape Town and Johannesburg: Michael Stevenson; Rome: Galleria Extraspazio, 2006. A photojournal of the events surrounding the contested presidential election held in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo in July 2006, during which supporters of the incumbent
Joseph Kabila clashed with those of Etinenne Tshisikedi.
Roma, Città di Mezzo. Rome: Punctum, 2009.
ISBN978-8895410296. Photographs taken in and around the capital city of
Rome in Italy, originally commissioned for the international Roman photography festival, FotoGrafia.
O Futuro Certo. Göttingen:
Steidl;
The Walther Collection, 2015.
ISBN978-3-86930-649-0. Selections from Tillim's various publications of the previous decade, including Mai Mai Militia in Training,Jo'burg,Avenue Patrice Lumumba, and Second Nature.[22]
Edit Beijing. Paris: Bessard, 2017. Photographs of people on the streets of Beijing made over a two-week period. Edition of 500 copies.
Awards
2002: Prix SCAM (Societe Civile des Auteurs Multimedia) Roger Pic.[23]