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The photographer Santu Mofokeng is one of the most vital artists to emerge from South Africa´s late apartheid era. From his distinctive portrayals of township life to his acclaimed reassessment of the medium´s documentary function, Mofokeng´s intuitive and multilayered oeuvre continues to grow in relevance and reach. This illuminatingcollection of texts-with contributions by Rory Bester, Jean-Fran‡ois Chevrier, Joshua Chuang, Patricia Hayes, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, and others-provides an informed basis for engaging with Mofokeng´s allusive body of work along with its related concerns. Published to accompany the photobook series Santu Mofokeng Stories, this essential, context-rich reference also features a comprehensive chronology and bibliography, interviews with David Goldblatt and Paul Weinberg, and previously unpublished writings by Mofokeng himself.

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Mofokeng, Santu
Santu Mofokeng was born in Johannesburg in 1956. After working as a darkroom assistant for various newspapers, he joined Afrapix, a collective of photographers dedicated to the struggle against apartheid. His interest in depicting ordinary township life, however, led him to work for the African Studies Institute at Wits University from 1988 until 1998. Over the past three decades, Mofokeng has created an exceptional, open-ended body of work that probes the meaning and authority of photography while subverting stereotypical notions of the black South African experience. In 2011 a retrospective of Mofokeng´s work opened at the Jeu de Paume in Paris before traveling internationally, and in 2013 he represented Germany at the Venice Biennale.

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