Graeme Williams
Graeme Williams (born 1961) is a South African photographer known for both his photojournalism during the transition to democracy in South Africa and his documentary projects post-apartheid.
Graeme Williams
- Born
- 1961 · Cape Town.
- Occupation
- photographer
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Graeme Williams (born 1961) is a South African photographer known for both his photojournalism during the transition to democracy in South Africa and his documentary projects post-apartheid.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Graeme Williams. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q28853730 · wikipedia · Graeme Williams
In this article
Career
Williams was born in Cape Town in 1961, where he went on to earn his Bachelor of Science in Geology and Statistics at the University of Cape Town. His first job as a photographer was for the Cape Times as a property photographer. After moving to Johannesburg in 1988, he began to work for Reuters in 1989 photographing opposition to apartheid and the transition from apartheid to the African National Congress. In 1991, he began to contribute to Afrapix, a collective of documentary photographers depicting apartheid to be used in newspapers around the world. Williams worked as a photojournalist until 1994. In a video for the Victoria and Albert Museum, Williams said: "towards the end of ninety-four I had a real strong feeling that I'd never really wanted to be a photojournalistic type photographer or to cover war and violence. I made a very strong stand almost to say, 'OK I'm going to stop that completely,' and I never did that sort of hard photojournalism news again." After South Africa's transition to democracy, Williams focused on magazine features and documentary projects. Many of his photographs concentrate on South African society and documenting the personal lives of individuals. Williams has had work published in South African and international publications, including: National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Stern, Sunday Telegraph Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Photography (UK), Marie Claire (UK), The Guardian Weekend Magazine, Leadership (South Africa), Los Angeles Times, Sunday Times (UK), The Evening Standard Magazine (UK), Die Woche (Germany), Die Zeit, Greenpeace, Optima (SA), The Scotsman, The Financial Times (UK), The Baltimore Sun, The Independent, The Australian, and Colors.
Publications by Williams
Publications by Williams
• The Floor. Auckland Park [Johannesburg]: Purple Box, 1996.. Photographs by Williams, text by David Gleason. Documenting the last year of open outcry trading in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. • The Inner City: Exploring isolation through life in Johannesburg. Auckland Park [Johannesburg]: Purple Box, 2000.. Documenting Johannesburg and the city's struggles with adapting to a changing political atmosphere. • Graeme Williams Photographe = Graeme Williams Photographer. Montreuil: Éditions de l'oeil, 2010.. Text (in French and English) by Gary Van Wyk. • The Edge of Town. South Africa: Cactus Press, 2008.. Linden: Highveld Press, 2011.. • A City Refracted. Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2015..
Publications with contributions by Williams
Publications with contributions by Williams
• Paul Weinberg, ed. Then & Now: Eight South African Photographers. Johannesburg: Highveld Press, 2008.. Presenting work by David Goldblatt, George Hallett, Eric Miller, Cedric Nunn, Guy Tillim, Paul Weinberg, Graeme Williams, Gisèle Wulfsohn. • Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography. Göttingen: Steidl; London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2011.;. Photographs by David Goldblatt, Santu Mofokeng, Guy Tillim, Pieter Hugo, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Berni Searle, Jodi Bieber, Terry Kurgan, Zanele Muholi, Hasan and Husain Essop, Roelof van Wyk, Graeme Williams, Kudzanai Chiurai, Sabelo Mlangeni, Jo Ractliffe, Mikhael Subotzky, and Nontsikelelo Veleko.
Collections
Williams's work is held in the following permanent public collections: • University of Cape Town, South Africa • National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.
Awards
• 2011: Picture Essay Documentary award and exhibition that traveled to all major South African cities. • 2013: Ernest Cole Award, University of Cape Town, for A city refracted
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gevisser, Mark. Figures & Fictions at the V&A. The Guardian. 23 April 2011.
- 2.Kurland, Andrea. Nation before and after Apartheid fell: Now and Then. Huck. 5 January 2017.
- 3.Duke University Libraries. Then and Now: Graeme Williams.
- 4.South African History Online.
- 5.Williams, Graeme. CV - Resume.
- 6.Victoria and Albert Museum. Figures and Fictions: Graeme Williams.
- 7.Graeme Williams Biography. Axis Gallery.
- 8.University of Cape Town. Ernest Cole Award Winner 2013. 13 August 2013.
- 9.University of Cape Town. 20 Years of Democracy: Graeme Williams (b. 1961).
- 10."Graeme Williams ". National Museum of African Art. Accessed 26 February 2017
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Photography
11,392 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Grace ParrishPhotographer
- Grace RobertsonPhotographer
- Graciela CarnevalePhotographer
- Graciela IturbidePhotographer
- Graham BudgettPhotographer
- Graham FagenPhotographer
- Graham FinlaysonPhotographer
- Graham HowePhotographer
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Graeme Williams?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.