Collection: Gideon Mendel

Gideon Mendel’s intimate style
 of image-making and long-term commitment to socially engaged projects has earned international recognition. Born in Johannesburg
in 1959, Mendel began his career 
as a news and ‘struggle’ photographer documenting the final years of apartheid. This experience marked him deeply, and much of his subsequent work has been engaged with the key issues facing his generation.

In 1991 he moved to London, and continued to respond to global concerns, especially HIV/ AIDS. Since 2007, using stills and video, Mendel has been working 
on Drowning World; an art and advocacy project about flooding
that is his personal response to global warming. His work has been widely published in magazines and newspapers including National Geographic, Geo and the Guardian Weekend. His images have been used in climate protests while
his photographs; installations and video pieces are increasingly seen
in gallery and museum contexts.

Mendel has received the inaugural Jackson Pollock Prize for Creativity and the Greenpeace Photo Award. Shortlisted for the Prix Pictet in 2015 and 2019, he has also received the Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography, the Amnesty International Media Award, and six World Press awards. As part of his ongoing practice Mendel continues to focus on our global climate emergency, most recently making work about the element of fire. Along with this he has been developing a variety of new projects addressing the Covid-19 crisis we are all facing.

Follow Gideon on Instagram at @gideonmendel.