Graeme Williams was born in Cape Town (1961) and now lives in Johannesburg, in South Africa.
From the series ‘A city refracted’.
Graeme Williams qualified as a geologist but decided his photography hobby was his vocation. He worked as press and freelance photographer in South Africa and London. From 1989, he covered the end of apartheid and transition to democracy for Reuters. From 1991, he was a member of Afrapix, a progressive photographers’ collective that played a crucial role in covering the truth of events in this contested period. With other Afrapix photographers, he later founded South Photographs Agency. Graeme Williams has staged solo exhibitions in Johannesburg, New
From the series ‘A city refracted’.
“In 1989 I was contracted by Reuters to cover South Africa’s transition to ANC rule. Since then I have worked on my own photographic projects, at times exhibiting and publishing the completed works.
My work is housed in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian (USA), The South African National Gallery, The Rotterdam Museum of Ethnology, Duke University (USA), The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, The Finnish School of Photography, Oxfam and Anti-Apartheid Movement in Belgium, Cape Town University.
I have staged solo exhibitions in Johannesburg, New York and Paris and have contributed to many combined exhibitions including the 2011 Figures and Fictions exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
During 2013 I was awarded the POPCAP Prize for Contemporary African Photography as well as the Ernest Cole Book award for the series, A city refracted.
From the series ‘A city refracted’.
In 2014 photographs from the series, Previously significant places will be included with the work of nine other South African photographers in a major exhibition showcasing contemporary South African photography at Huis Marseille in Amsterdam.
Five monographs of my work have been printed. The most recent is a publication produced by VU’ Gallery showcasing a selection of photographs produced during the past 25 years. I am represented by VU’ Gallery in Paris and Axis Gallery in New York.
Photographic assignments have taken me to fifty countries and my photographs have been published in major publications worldwide, including National Geographic Magazine, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine and Photography magazine (UK).”
From the series ‘Painting over the present’.
‘It was an opportunity to relook at the way I portray a nation that’s so full of complex emotions and feelings. I try to avoid the initial impact of news and photojournalism, to bring a sense of softness and lyricism on one level, but matching that with a deeper river of anger and violence’
From the series ‘Painting over the present’.
Copyright: Graeme Williams.