Guy Tillim is a South African photographer known for his work focusing on troubled regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. His photographs and projects have been exhibited internationally and form the basis of several of Tillim's published books. A member of the country's white minority, Tillim was born in Johannesburg in 1962. He first became professionally involved in photography as a photojournalist in 1986, working with the Afrapix collective, a group of South African documentary photographers providing a unique conduit of photography to world media during apartheid. During much of this time he worked as a freelance photographer for both local and foreign media, including Reuters and Agence France Press. The website African Success has described him as one of South Africa's "foremost photographers", whilst the Daily Maverick site has referred to him as "arguably SA's finest photographer" after David Goldblatt.
Publications
Jo'burg. Johannesburg: STE Publishers, 2001.. Photographs taken in and around Johannesburg.
Departure. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Michael Stevenson Contemporary, 2003.
Kunhinga Portraits. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Michael Stevenson Contemporary, 2003. Photographs taken in the town of Kunhinga, Bié Province, Angola, featuring portraits of displaced Angolans fleeing government forces in February 2002, during the final months of the Angolan Civil War.
Leopold and Mobuto. Filigranes Editions, 2004..
Petros Village. Rome: Punctum, 2006. Photographs documenting daily life over a two-week period in the village of Petros, central Malawi.
Congo Democratic. Renate Wiehager; Cape Town and Johannesburg: Michael Stevenson; Rome: Galleria Extraspazio, 2006. A photojournal of the events surrounding the contested presidential election held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July 2006, during which supporters of the incumbent Joseph Kabila clashed with those of Etinenne Tshisikedi.
Roma, Città di Mezzo. Rome: Punctum, 2009.. Photographs taken in and around the capital city of Rome in Italy, originally commissioned for the international Roman photography festival, FotoGrafia.
Second Nature. Prestel, 2012..
O Futuro Certo. Göttingen: Steidl; The Walther Collection, 2015.. Selections from Tillim’s various publications of the previous decade, including Mai Mai Militia in Training,Jo’burg,Avenue Patrice Lumumba, and Second Nature.
Edit Beijing. Paris: Bessard, 2017. Photographs of people on the streets of Beijing made over a two-week period. Edition of 500 copies.
