Peter Magubane

Peter Sexford Magubane OMSS (18 January 1932 – 1 January 2024) was a South African photographer and anti-apartheid activist. He began taking photos as a school boy and started professional photography at the Drum. Magubane became one of the first black photographers in South Africa under mentorship of chief photographer Jürgen Schadeberg at the Drum. Throughout his years as a photographer, Peter Magubane was arrested multiple times for taking photographs deemed offensive to the state. He not only fought apartheid with photography, but he shared his story and the story of numerous black South Africans through his publications. Magubane often included captions or introductory essays for his photography so the viewer could interpret his images better. He became the personal photographer of President Nelson Mandela in 1990.