Richest photography contest in South Africa, the Santu Mofokeng Photography Prize launched in Johannesburg
Open to all, especially emerging photography voices in the country, R100 000 is up for grabs, and those interested may enter for the contest, starting on Wednesday, July, 15 August, 2026. The event attracted heavyweights in the arts sector.
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
The launch of newly founded Santu Mofokeng Prize at Shepstone Gardens on Saturday, July 11, 2026, marked a new chapter in the appreciation of the work of photographers as story tellers about communities in South Africa.
The event, was attended by luminaries in the arts such as academics, and of course photographers. Those who attended the event that included prominent names in the art sector such as Roger Ballen, Nonkululeko Khumalo, Koulla Xinisteris, curator of the SABC Art Collection,an art lecturer at Vaal University of Technology, Professor David Andrew from Wits School of Arts, Natasha, Christopher, a fine art lecturer from Wits School of arts and retired Sowetan photographer, Len Kumalo, as well as prominent curators and artists.
Mofokeng brazed a successful trail in documentary photography, winning him multiple awards along the way and exhibiting at prestigious exhibitions locally and international. He was among a small but hugely successful documentary photographers in the country. Think of the late David Goldbaltt, George Hallet, the late Peter McKenzie and Cedric Nunn among a few others, to appropriately locate the late Mofokeng’s art praxis.
He and these names collectively excelled in documentary photography to the extent that any study of the history of photography in general and documentary photography in particular would lack credibility if these names are missing in that study.
The profile and stature of the attendees at the launch in many ways, is a reflection of the esteem in which this new photography award is viewed by the sector, especially its expected role of elevating the status of photography as a powerful medium of story-telling. It is also telling about how Mofokeng’s body of work was valued by those especially those in the know about this medium of story-telling.
This photography contest, open to especially emerging photographers, with a R100 00 prize tag, is the richest contest in photography in the history of photography in the country.
Lunetta Baritz, a director of the Santu Mofokeng Foundation, an organisation founded to house the late photographer’s intellectual property, told CITYLIFE/ARTS during the launch that the contest is open to any form of photography, and is targeted at particularly emerging photograph voices in South Africa.
The photo contest is a collaboration between Latitudes and the Santu Mofokeng Foundation.
“We approached Latitudes to partner with us because of the infrastructure that they already have as a home to this photography competition,” explained Baritz.
She explained that her relationship with the late Mofokeng developed from the time that she worked at Warren Sebright Gallery in Parkwood.
Mofokeng, whose work was highly respected had a had two breaks in his career, when he was offered an opportunity of a six months residency in New York in 1991, and also when he worked with a research institute attached to Wits, and some of the photographs he took during that time, were recently showcased to critically acclaim at the Standard Bank Lab in April this year (see CITYLIFE/ARTS article here (https://citylifearts.co.za/sandton-city-gets-some-much-needed-injection-of-art-colour/)
“When the gallery closed, Santu insisted that he was going nowhere, even as I explained that the gallery was no more. I therefore, worked with him outside the gallery, and I advised him that two things must happen, one, the formation of the foundation, and two that he needed to draw up a Will,” Vanessa said.
The Santu Mofokeng prize has taken place against the backdrop of the medium of photography, for some strange reason, getting a lukewarm attention from local collectors, whereas in the US and Europe, photography is a popular collectable art housed in some of the most prestigious institutions and adorn homes of powerful and wealth collectors.
It is therefore, hoped that the launch of this photography Prize, will cultivate public interest if photography as a collectable art5 medium because of the role photography plays in archiving historical events.
If you think of it, photography has played an important role in arching the struggle for freedom in this country. For example, it is unimaginable to think of the June 16 Student protest in Soweto, and not associate it visually with that one photography of an injured hector Pieterson being carried to safety by Mbuyiseni Makhubo.
That image taken by the late Sam Nzima, has come to visually represent the brutality of the apartheid state machinery that did not distinguish between children and adult targets when it came to suppressing public dissent.
Those interested in viewing Mofokeng’s work can do so by visiting an exhibition featuring a selection of the late photographer’s body of work in an exhibition that will run for a month at Shepstone Gardens, the home of Latitudes.