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Guy Tillim

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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

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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

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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]

Publications

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  • Jo'burg. Johannesburg: STE Publishers, 2001. ISBN 978-2350460147. Photographs taken in and around Johannesburg.
  • 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.
  • Leopold and Mobuto. Filigranes Editions, 2004. ISBN 978-2914381918.
  • 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.
  • Avenue Patrice Lumumba. Prestel, 2008. ISBN 978-3791340661. Photographs taken in Mozambique, DR Congo, Madagascar, Angola and Benin during 2007/8. With introductions by both Tillim and Robert Gardner.
  • Roma, Città di Mezzo. Rome: Punctum, 2009. ISBN 978-8895410296. Photographs taken in and around the capital city of Rome in Italy, originally commissioned for the international Roman photography festival, FotoGrafia.
  • Second Nature. Prestel, 2012. ISBN 978-3791346908.
  • O Futuro Certo. Göttingen: Steidl; The Walther Collection, 2015. ISBN 978-3-86930-649-0. 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

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Exhibitions

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Notes

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  1. ^ Links in this quotation have been added for this encyclopedia entry

References

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  1. ^ a b c International Center of Photography. "Guy Tillim".
  2. ^ a b c South African History Online. "Guy Tillim".
  3. ^ a b c d e Poplak 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d Gutberlet, Marie-Hélène (2018). "Presentness, Memory and History". In Helff, Sissy; Michels, Stefanie (eds.). Presentness, Memory and History: Thabiso Sekgala, "Homeland". Memory – History – Archives. Transcript Verlag. pp. 69–88. ISBN 978-3-8376-3006-0. JSTOR j.ctv1wxt5s.8. Retrieved 14 November 2021. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Tate. "Guy Tillim born 1962". Tate. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d O'Donnell Hulme, Mary (10 July 2018). "Guy Tillim: Biography". International Center of Photography. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  7. ^ LensCulture, Guy Tillim |. "Guy Tillim". LensCulture. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  8. ^ a b c African Success 2007.
  9. ^ Poplak, Richard (18 May 2011). "Floating worlds: SA photographer relocates the African modern". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  10. ^ "About Success Afrika - Only Books". successafrika.com/. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d "Guy Tillim | Peabody Museum". www.peabody.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d HAYES, PATRICIA (2007). "Power, Secrecy, Proximity: A Short History of South African Photography". Kronos (33): 139–162. ISSN 0259-0190. JSTOR 41056585.
  13. ^ Mary, O'Donnell Hulme. "Guy Tillim: Biography". International Center of Photography.
  14. ^ "Agence VU - Guy Tillim". www.agencevu.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  15. ^ a b Gaule, Sally (2006). "Guy Tillim: Joburg downtown". De Arte. 41 (73): 43–50. doi:10.1080/00043389.2006.11877053. S2CID 194785870.
  16. ^ a b Zegeye, Abebe (1 March 2003). "Amulets and Dreams: War Youth and Change in Africa". Social Identities. 9 (1): 37–50. doi:10.1080/1350463032000075326. ISSN 1350-4630. S2CID 143484984.
  17. ^ a b Machen, Peter (22 June 2009). "An Interview with Guy Tillim (2005)". AMERICAN SUBURB X. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  18. ^ "Afrapix Chronology 1981-1991 | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  19. ^ "Apartheid". HISTORY. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  20. ^ a b c TILLIM, GUY; LEHAN, JOANNA (2008). "Guy Tillim: Things as They Seem: Interview with Joanna Lehan". Aperture (193): 60–65. ISSN 0003-6420. JSTOR 24473509.
  21. ^ a b c d Africa, Art South. "The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory revisited by Contemporary African Artists - Art Africa Magazine". Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  22. ^ "O Futuro Certo - Guy Tillim". Steidl Verlag. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  23. ^ "Michael Stevenson". archive.stevenson.info. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  24. ^ "Guy Tillim". Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  25. ^ "Daimler Art Collection". Daimler Art Collection. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  26. ^ "Guy Tillim, winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2005 - LOBA". Guy Tillim, winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2005 - LOBA. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  27. ^ "Michael Stevenson". archive.stevenson.info. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  28. ^ "Christian Rattemeyer on the 27th São Paulo Bienal". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  29. ^ "Guy Tillim", Michael Stevenson Gallery website
  30. ^ "Guy Tillim at The Goodman Gallery Johannesburg - Artmap.com". artmap.com. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  31. ^ Arnet Worldwide Corporation. "Guy Tillim (South African, born 1962): Timeline". Arnet. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  32. ^ "Africa Remix". Contemporary And (in German). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  33. ^ "Daimler Art Collection". Daimler Art Collection. 16 February 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  34. ^ "STEVENSON | Guy Tillim". archive.stevenson.info. Retrieved 14 November 2021.

Bibliography

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