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Peter Sexford Magubane
photographer
Peter Sexford Magubane (1932–2024) was a prominent South African photographer and anti-apartheid activist. He began his career in the mid-1950s with the magazine Drum, where he worked under the mentorship of Jürgen Schadeberg. Magubane became one of the first black photographers in South Africa to document the country's historic moments, including the Sharpeville massacre and Nelson Mandela's Rivonia trial. He was arrested multiple times for his photography, which was often deemed offensive to the apartheid state. In 1976, he gained international acclaim for his documentation of the Soweto uprising. Magubane later became the personal photographer of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and continued to work as a photojournalist and art photographer until his death.
Themes
anti-apartheid
social justice
South African history
photojournalism
Works by Peter Sexford Magubane
Soweto 1978 · Don Nelson · book · English ISBN 0909238324 Photographed by Peter Magubane; text by Marshall Lee. Black As I Am 1978 · Los Angeles Guild of Tutors Press · book ISBN 0-89615-001-1 Magubane's South Africa 1978 · Alfred A. Knopf · book ISBN 0-436-27120-6 Black Child 1982 · Alfred Knopf · book ISBN 0-394-51445-9 Soweto: Portrait of a City 1990 · New Holland · book ISBN 1-85368-051-6 Women of South Africa: their fight for freedom 1993 · Little, Brown & Co. · book ISBN 0-8212-1928-6 Nelson Mandela, Man of Destiny: a pictorial biography 1996 · Don Nelson · book ISBN 1-86806-123-X Vanishing Cultures of South Africa: changing customs in a changing world 1998 · Struik · book ISBN 1-86825-967-6 African Renaissance 2000 · Struik · book ISBN 1-86872-413-1 Homesteads 2001 · Struik · book ISBN 978-1-86872-517-5 Dress and Adornment 2001 · Struik · book ISBN 978-1-86872-514-4 Ceremonies 2001 · Struik · book ISBN 1-86872-515-4 Arts and Crafts 2001 · Struik · book ISBN 1-86872-836-6 The BaNtwane: Africa's Undiscovered People 2001 · Struik · book ISBN 1-86872-564-2 AmaNdebele 2005 · Sunbird · book ISBN 1-919938-06-0
Exhibitions
1985
Solo exhibition
Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki
solo
2005
Madiba: Man of Destiny
Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg
solo
2001
Soweto – A South African Myth
group
Awards
1958
First black South African to win a photographic prize in the country
1985
Robert Capa Gold Medal
1986
Dr. Erich Salomon Award
1992
Special Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism
1995
Martin Luther King Luthuli Award
1997
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mother Jones Foundation and Leica Cameras
1999
Order for Meritorious Service Class II
President Mandela
2003
Honorary doctorate degree from the University of South Africa
2006
Honorary doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Fort Hare
2006
Honorary doctorate of Technology from the Tshwane University of Technology
2006
Doctor of Law (honoris causa) Rhodes University
2008
Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society
2010
Cornell Capa Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography
2010
Honorary doctorate degree from Columbia College (Chicago)
2015
Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity
2023
Van Toeka Af Living Legends Recognition award
References
Peter Sexford Magubane(1932-01-18) Vrededorp, Gauteng, South Africa link
Cowell, Alan. Peter Magubane, 91, Who Fought Apartheid With His Camera, Is Dead. The New York Times. 2024 link
Cowell, Alan. Peter Magubane, 91, Who Fought Apartheid With His Camera, Is Dead. The New York Times. 2024 link
Peter Sexford Magubane was born on 18 January 1932 in Vrededorp (now Pageview, a suburb of Johannesburg); he grew up in Sophiatown. link
Soweto. Don Nelson. 1978 link
Barbieri, Fabio. Peter Magubane : profiles. Contemporary Africa Database. 2003 link
Weil, Louis. From the Publisher. Time. 1990 link
Cowell, Alan. Peter Magubane, 91, Who Fought Apartheid With His Camera, Is Dead. The New York Times. 2024 link
