PIETER HUGO
ZENG MEI HUI ZI, BEIJING
Pieter Hugo is a South African photographer living in Cape Town. He is reknowned worldwide for his distinctive images of marginalized communities and disempowered people.
PORTRAIT, SOUTH AFRICA
LOOKING ASIDE
THE HYENA AND OTHER MEN
NOLLYWOOD, NIGERIA
T MAGAZINE
Hugo’s work is governed by a self-taught approach to photography. He initially worked in the film industry in Cape Town, before spending two years in Italy at Fabrica, a research center for artists.
HARPER’S BAZAAR
HARPER’S BAZAAR
i-D
PH-HBA
i-D
He has since traveled extensively, to countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Liberia. His work aims to challenge preconceptions around the representation of groups of people ‘other’ to the Western European norm.
PATTI SMITH for HARPER’S BAZAAR, COVER
RE-EDITION
i-D, ANGEL WINGS
HOOD BY AIR
NIKE
It is within the ‘critical zone’ – the carefully chosen distance from the photographer’s lens to his subject – that Pieter Hugo maneuvers through the muddy waters of political engagement, documentary responsibility, and the relationship of these to his own aesthetic.
PERMANENT-ERROR, ACCRA, GHANA
PERMANENT-ERROR, ACCRA, GHANA
DIEPSLOOT, ,JOHANNESBURG
STEFANO PILATI for SYSTEM MAGAZINE
ARENA HOMME + X LANVIN
The tension created between rawness and refinement, turmoil and intellect, is the thread that runs through Pieter’s work and maintains a distinct voice, as he puts it, in the morass of photographic democracy.
BLACK FRIDAY
TAN YUNFEI, BEIJING
SHAUN OLIVER, CAPE TOWN
ARENA HOMME + X PAUL SMITH
PORTRAIT, JUNCHITAN DE ZARAGOZA, MEXICO
Pieter’s direct, respectful sittings with society’s outsiders serves as an engaging channel to confront timely social, political and environmental realities. “Even when I’m photographing still lives or landscapes, it’s actually about people,” says Pieter. “It’s about people and politics.”
NOLLYWOOD, NIGERIA
DOCUMENT JOURNAL
HARPER’S BAZAAR
HARPER’S BAZAAR
MY COVID FAMILY
Pieter produces fashion photography for major magazines and designers including Vogue Italia, i-D, Harper’s Bazzar, T Magazine, System Magazine, Document Journal, Arena Homme +, Mami Wata and Louis Vuitton.
MAMI WATA
DOCUMENT JOURNAL
LOUIS VUITTON
VOGUE ITALIA
MAMI WATA
Over the past twenty years, award-winner Pieter Hugo has captivated audiences in over forty solo exhibitions with representation by galleries around the world and prominent public and private collections. He has also published four monographs along with numerous documentary series.
PARIS PHOTO 2022
MHTATA, AFTER THE INITIATION CEREMONY
LE MONDE
SOWETO, SFISO LUKHELE
SOLUS, ALEXANDRA IN LONDON 
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