Santu Mofokeng

Santu Mofokeng (October 19, 1956 – January 26, 2020) was a South African news and documentary photographer who worked under the alias Mofokengâ. Mofokeng was a member of the Afrapix collective and won a Prince Claus Award.

Early life Mofokeng was born on October 19, 1956, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Career While still a teenager, he began his career as a street photographer, went on to work as an assistant in a darkroom, and then worked as a news photographer. Subsequently, he joined the collective Afrapix, working under the alias Mofokengâ. Initially he mainly documented the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Mofokeng emphasized the spiritual dimension of his work, as in the series Chasing Shadows from 1997. After starting off with street and news photography, he specialized in landscapes. Later projects show his deep concern for the condition of the (biophysical) environment at the beginning of the 21st century.

At his exhibition Let's Talk in 2010, he explained that the essence is not what you see in these photographs, but what you don't see (but feel).

On January 26, 2020, Mofokeng died of progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative brain disease, in Johannesburg.

Solo exhibitions 1990: Like Shifting Sand, Market Galleries, Johannesburg 1994: Rumours / The Bloemhof Portfolio, Market Galleries, Johannesburg 1995: Distorting Mirror/Townships Imagined, Worker's Library, Johannesburg 1997: Chasing Shadows – Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1998: Black Photo Album/Look at Me, Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam 1998: Chasing Shadows, Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam 1998: Lunarscapes, Netherlands Photo Institute, Rotterdam 1999: Black Photo Album/Look at Me, FNAC Montparnasse 2000: Chasing Shadows, Transparencies International, Berlin 2000: Sad Landscapes, Camouflage Gallery, Johannesburg 2003: Chasing Shadows, Memling Museum, Bruges 2004: Rethinking Landscape, Centre photographique d'Ile-de-France (CPIF), Pontault-Combault 2004: Santu Mofokeng, David Krut Projects, New York City 2006: Invoice Iziko, South African National Art Museum, Cape Town 2007: Invoice, Standard Bank Art Museum, Johannesburg 2008: Homeland Security, Johannesburg Art Museum 2008: Santu Mofokeng's Landscape, Warren Siebrits, Johannesburg 2009: Mofokeng survey exhibition, Autograph ABP, London 2010: Chasing Shadows, Anne Arbor Institute of Humanities, Michigan 2010: Let's Talk, Arts on Main, Johannesburg 2010: Remaining Past, Minshar Art Institute, Tel Aviv 2011–12: Chasing Shadows, Paris, Bern, Bergen, Antwerp

Awards 1991: Ernest Cole Scholarship, for study at the International Center of Photography, in New York City 1992: 1st Mother Jones Award for Africa 1998: Künstlerhaus Worpswede Fellowship, Germany 1999: Contre Jour Residency, Marseille 1999: DAAD Fellowship, Worpswede, Germany 2001: DAAD Fellowship, Worpswede, Germany 2007: Ruth First Fellowship 2009: Prince Claus Award, Netherlands