{{short description|South African photographer (born 1961)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Graeme Williams''' (born 1961) is a South African photographer<ref>{{cite news | first = Mark | last = Gevisser | authorlink = Mark Gevisser | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/23/figures-and-fictions-mark-gevisser | title = Figures & Fictions at the V&A | date = 23 April 2011 | accessdate = 28 February 2017 | work = The Guardian | location = London}}</ref> known for both his photojournalism during the transition to democracy in South Africa<ref name="huck">{{cite web|title=Nation before and after Apartheid fell: Now and Then |url=http://www.huckmagazine.com/perspectives/reportage-2/south-africa/|work=Huck| date = 5 January 2017 | accessdate=26 February 2017 | first = Andrea | last = Kurland}}</ref> and his documentary projects post-apartheid.
==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.<ref name="duke_then_and_now">{{cite web|title=Then and Now: Graeme Williams|url=http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/thenandnow/photos/williams/|publisher=Duke University Libraries|accessdate=7 May 2013|archive-date=22 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222193149/http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/thenandnow/photos/williams/|url-status=dead}}</ref> His first job as a photographer was for the ''Cape Times'' as a property photographer.<ref>{{cite web|title=South African History Online|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/graeme-williams|accessdate=7 May 2013}}</ref> After moving to Johannesburg in 1988,<ref name="huck" /> he began to work for Reuters in 1989 photographing opposition to apartheid and the transition from apartheid to the African National Congress.<ref name="gw_cv">{{cite web|last=Williams|first=Graeme|title=CV - Resume|url=http://www.graemewilliams.co.za/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=3|accessdate=7 May 2013|archive-date=5 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605085636/http://www.graemewilliams.co.za/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=3|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1991, he began to contribute to Afrapix, a collective of documentary photographers depicting apartheid to be used in newspapers around the world.<ref name="gw_cv" />
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."<ref>{{cite web |title=Figures and Fictions: Graeme Williams |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/videos/f/figures-and-fictions-graeme-williams/ |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum |accessdate=7 May 2013 |archive-date=2 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802184703/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/videos/f/figures-and-fictions-graeme-williams/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref name="duke_then_and_now" />
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''.<ref name="gw_cv" /><ref name="axis_cv" />
==Publications== ===Publications by Williams=== *''The Floor.'' Auckland Park [Johannesburg]: Purple Box, 1996. {{ISBN|0620207817}}. 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. {{ISBN|0869755331}}. 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. {{ISBN|9782351370858}}. Text (in French and English) by Gary Van Wyk. *''The Edge of Town.'' South Africa: Cactus Press, 2008. {{OCLC|927141178}}. Linden: Highveld Press, 2011. {{ISBN|9780620501590}}. *''A City Refracted.'' Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2015. {{ISBN|9781431421640}}.
===Publications with contributions by Williams=== *Paul Weinberg, ed. ''Then & Now: Eight South African Photographers.'' Johannesburg: Highveld Press, 2008. {{ISBN|9780620423274}}. 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. {{ISBN|9783869302669}}; {{ISBN|9783869303062}}. 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.
==Awards== *2011: Picture Essay Documentary award and exhibition that traveled to all major South African cities.<ref name="axis_cv">{{cite web|title=Graeme Williams Biography|url=http://www.axisgallery.net/exhibitions/city_country/cv-williams.html|work=Axis Gallery|accessdate=8 May 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064130/http://www.axisgallery.net/exhibitions/city_country/cv-williams.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> *2013: Ernest Cole Award, University of Cape Town, for ''A city refracted''<ref>{{cite web | title = Ernest Cole Award Winner 2013 | url = http://www.ernestcoleaward.uct.ac.za/news/ernest-cole-award-winner-2013 | publisher = University of Cape Town | date = 13 August 2013 | accessdate = 26 February 2017 | archive-date = 27 February 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170227231848/http://www.ernestcoleaward.uct.ac.za/news/ernest-cole-award-winner-2013 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
==Collections== Williams's work is held in the following permanent public collections: *University of Cape Town, South Africa<ref>{{cite web|title= 20 Years of Democracy: Graeme Williams (b. 1961)|url= http://www.specialcollections.uct.ac.za/20-years/graeme-williams|publisher= University of Cape Town|accessdate= 26 February 2017|archive-date= 23 September 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180923023008/http://www.specialcollections.uct.ac.za/20-years/graeme-williams|url-status= dead}}</ref> *National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.<ref>"[https://africa.si.edu/collections/view/people/asitem/items@null:2661/0?t:state:flow=69ac52e7-888d-46be-8f08-3ebcb3c1828a Graeme Williams]{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}". National Museum of African Art. Accessed 26 February 2017</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{Official website|graemewilliams.co.za}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Graham}} Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:South African photographers