South African, b. 1962; lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa
Trained as a photojournalist, Guy Tillim has covered conflicts throughout postcolonial Africa since 1986. In 2002, he photographed the civil war in Beni, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has claimed an estimated 3.8 million lives. There, he encountered the Mai Mai militias, comprised of young boys and adolescents who were training to fight in the rebel army—the so-called Armée Populaire du Congo (APC)—against the Congolese government. In Tillim’s series of portraits, defiant child soldiers camouflage themselves in dried leaves and vines. They carry logs instead of guns, thought to possess a magical immunity to real bullets. Through precise repetition in pose and lighting, Tillim depicts the distinctive features of each boy. Together the soldiers evince a shared identity, at once archetypal and personal, even as the intrigue and the pain in each subject becomes a symbol of the larger political forces in which the militia was engaged.
A Map of Central Johannesburg at the Inner City Regeneration Project Office, City Council Loveday Street
AI's Tower, a Block of Flats on Harrow Road, Berea, overlooking the Ponte Building
Al's Tower, Joel Road, Berea
Apartment Building, Avenue Bagamoyo, Beira, Mozambique
Apartment Building, Beira, Mozambique
Arao Shingawule, Adrian Pacasi, Pedro Gitali and Jose Arao
Athénée Royal High School, Lubumbashi, DR Congo
Barber's Shop, Hillbrow
Cape Agulhas, Esselen Street, Hillbrow
Cape Agulhas, Esselen Street, Hillbrow
Eviction by the Red Ants, Auret Street, Jeppestown
Fiorinda Ngoma, her mother Rosalia Nahamba (holding baby Filomena Lasinda), and her sister Rosali Sindali, holding baby Guerra
Grafton Road, Yeoville
Grande Hotel, Beira, Mozambique
Grande Hotel, Beira, Mozambique
Justino Ngene, Laurino Bongue and Faucino Hando
Kenny Ncube on the Balcony of his Flat in Sherwood Heights, Smit Street
Manhattan Court, Plein Street
Mathews Ngwenya at his place in Sherwood Heights, Smit Street
Mbulelo at the bar he runs in a house in Joel Road, Berea
Mbulelo's bar, Joel Road, Berea
Mbulelo's bar, Joel Road, Berea. Justice Sibanyone (centre) and his wife Monica (extreme left)
Milton Court, Pritchard Street
Ntokozo (right) and his brother Vusi Tshabalala at Ntokozo's place, Milton Court, Pritchard Street
On the Roof of Jeanwell House on Nugget Street
Portrait I
Portrait II
Portrait III
Portrait IV
Portrait IX
Portrait V
Portrait VI
Portrait VII
Portrait VIII
Portrait X
Portrait XI
Portrait XII
Portrait XIII
Portrait XIV
Portrait XV
Portrait XVI
Post Office, Likasi, DR Congo
San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea
Sisters Bertha Chquia and Jamba Rosa, and Sisters Louisa Vuyuyu and Maria Namunga
Stanhope Mansions, Plein Street
Tayob Towers, Pritchard Street
The Red Ants Evict Residents of Crest House, Main Street, Jeppestown
The Roof of Sherwood Heights, Smit Street
The view from an apartment in Jeanwell House overlooking the intersection of Nugget and Pritchard Streets
Typists, Likasi, DR Congo
View of Hillbrow looking north from the roof of the Mariston Hotel
Yonela Kwaza, Grafton Road, Yeoville