award-winning portrait photography
Detailed Biography
The Objectors - War Resisters International Conference, Cape Town - July 2014
Andriesvale - Mogalakwena Gallery, Cape Town - September to October 2014
The Objectors - The Castle, Cape Town - September - October 2014
Platfontein (The Hip-Hop Generation) - Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town - October 2014
The Objectors - Friends of Design, Cape Town - November 2014
Simplify - Johans Borman Gallery, Cape Town - November 2014
Andriesvale - South Gallery, Cape Town - November - January 2015
The Objectors - South Gallery, Cape Town - March 2015
Black Sash 60th Anniversary Exhibition - Artscape, Cape Town - August 2015
The Price of Gold - Iziko Slave Lodge, Cape Town - December 2015 to March 2016
The Objectors - Part of group exhibition 'Studio' at South African National Gallery - 2016
The Horsemen of Semonkong - Circa, Johannesburg - 2016
The Horsemen of Semonkong - ArtCo Gallery, Germany - July 2017
Les Nuits de la Photographie - Les Rencontres De La Photographie - Arles 2017
Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize - The National Portrait Gallery - London 2017 to 2018
The Price of Gold - Head On - Sydney, Australia 2018
The Defenders - The Guardian HQ - London 2018
The Defenders - Museum of Tomorrow - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2018
CDC Front Lines - Atlanta International Airport - Atlanta, USA 2019
CDC Front Lines - United States Senate - Washington D.C. 2019
Airbnb Faces of Tourism - Constitution Hill - Johannesburg, South Africa 2019
The Actionists - Victoria Yards - Johannesburg, South Africa 2022
Piclet Popcap - Prize for contemporary African photography - Winner
PDN Storytellers - Winner
Lensculture Storytellers - Finalist
Head On Photo - Semi-Finalist
Lensculture Emerging Talent - Winner
Mondo Galleria Award - 1st Runner Up
Magnum Photographic Awards - Finalist
Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize - Exhibition Finalist
Silicosis: The long battle to get the mines to cough up - Daily Maverick - September 2015
The Price of Gold Photo Essay in The Guardian - October 2015
Sunday Times article - Forget the myths about foreigners.
The Objectors comment piece in the South African Mail & Guardian.
The Price of Gold - multimedia piece in the Mail & Guardian - August 2015
The Caregivers - Multimedia piece in the Mail & Guardian - September 2015
Roads & Kingdoms - Portraits of Resistance - 2016
Workshop X - The Price of Gold - 2016
L'Oeil De La Photographie - The Price of Gold - 2016
Vogue - The Horsemen of Semonkong - 2016
The Independent - The Horsemen of Semonkong - 2016
The Guardian - The Horsemen of Semonkong - 2016
Esquire Russia - The Horsemen of Semonkong - 2016
Insider - The Horsemen of Semonkong - 2016
Public Delivery - The Horsemen of Semonkong - 2017
The Guardian - Postcards From Xolobeni - 2018
The Intercept - The Defenders - 2018
The Myanmar Times - The Defenders - 2018
Faces on the Front Lines - CDC - 2019
Daily Maverick - Mums of the Cape Flats - 2019
Maverick Citizen - Life After Listeriosis - 2020
The Guardian - Girls Not Brides - 2020
The Guardian - Hearing is Believing - 2021
The Price of Gold Photo Essay in The Guardian - October 2015
Sunday Times article - Forget the myths about foreigners.
The Objectors comment piece in the South African Mail & Guardian.
Dodho Issue 01 - January 2016
British Airways High Life - Wrapped Up - 2016
Carlton Voice - Spring 2016
Shutr.photo Magazine - 2016
Terra Mater - November 2016
Benetton - Clothes For Humans - 2017
ADAC Reisemagazin - January 2017
The Guardian Weekend - The Defenders - 2018
The Myanmar Times - The Defenders - 2018
National Geographic Traveller - September 2018
The Guardian - Girls Not Brides - 2020
go! Magazine - July 2020
Jack Journal - Volume 5- 2023
Daily Maverick - The Actionists - 2023/4
Review of Andriesvale Exhibition in the Cape Times newspaper.
Mail & Guardian feature - Artists who drill below the obvious - October 2015
BBC world service interview about The Price of Gold - October 2015
BBC News Video featuring The Price of Gold exhibition - October 2015
Between 10 and 5 Interview - January 2016
Daily Maverick Interview - February 2016
Resource Magazine Interview - March 2016
Dodho Magazine Interview - April 2016
Visi Magazine Interview - October 2016
Culture Trip Interview - November 2016
FotoFirst Interview - November 2016
Fathom Magazine Interview - August 2017
Taylor Wessing Prize Interview - November 2017
It’s Nice That Interview - May 2018
Australian Human Rights Institute - June 2018
Joia Magazine Interview - November 2024
Artdoc Magazine - March 2025
Exceptional KwaZulu-Natal by T&I - 2014
The Black Sash by Mary Ingouville Burton - Jacaranda, 2015
The Price of Gold by Thom Pierce - Wild Goose Chase, 2016
Les Others - Fresh Air and Creativity - 2016
Get Up! Stand Up! by Mark Heywood - Tafelburg, 2017
La Quatrieme Image - La Pologne - 2017
Viewpoint Colour by Sanctuary - 2018
Snoeks - Papyrus, 2019
Sets & Devices by Kim Gurney - 2020
Photographic Bandwidth by Timothy Fraser- 2021
Depletion by Shirin M. Rai - Oxford University Press, 2024
Thom Pierce Studios
© Thom Pierce 2025
Tel. +27 (0)79 281 0313
Email. thom@thompiercestudios.com
Instagram. @thom.pierce
Career Highlights
Exhibitions
National Portrait Gallery - London
Museum of Tomorrow - Brazil
United States Senate - Washington
La Quatrieme Image - Paris
Les Roncontres D'Arles - France
Awards
Lensculture Emerging Talent
Piclet Popcap Prize
PDN Storytellers Award
Magnum Photographic Awards (F)
Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize (F)
News Publications
The Guardian
BBC
CNN
Sunday Times
Editorial Publications
National Geographic Traveller
Vogue Italy
Esquire
ADAC Magazine
Permanent Collections
South African National Gallery
Thom Pierce (born 1978 in Jersey, Channel Islands) is an award-winning British photographic artist, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
After graduating from the Brighton Institute of Modern Music in 2004, Pierce enjoyed a successful career in the music industry, touring the world with The Streets, Zero 7, Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, Keane and George Michael.
Through his extensive travels Pierce rediscovered his love of the camera, eventually leaving music to persue a career as a documentary and portrait photographer.
Over the past fifteen years he has built a substantial body of work that has been exhibited in major international galleries and festivals around the world.
His work explores the line between art, documentary, and traditional portrait photography to create carefully crafted dramatic images. He splits his time between personal projects, commissioned work and his social outreach project, Positive Activism.
In 2018 Pierce was commissioned by The Guardian, Global Witness and the United Nations Environment Programme to create The Defenders, a ground breaking series of portraits profiling environmental activists around the world at risk because of their activism.
Thom’s work has been published globally in newspapers, magazines, and books. It has also been featured as part of several human rights campaigns.