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