Adam Broomberg (born November 11, 1970) is a South-African artist, art educator and activist currently based in Berlin, Germany. He is the co-founder and coordinator of the NGO Artists + Allies x Hebron alongside the Palestinian activist Issa Amro. Broomberg's work often explores themes of conflict, power, and the representation of truth in contemporary society. Despite his prolific career, he remains committed to challenging existing power structures and using art as a means of fostering social change. His work continues to inspire and provoke viewers, inviting them to critically examine the world around them and confront uncomfortable truths.
Early life and education
He grew up in a politically charged environment during the Apartheid era, which profoundly influenced his later artistic practice. Broomberg's upbringing in a racially segregated society shaped his awareness of social inequalities and fueled his desire to challenge dominant narratives through his work.
In 1998, Broomberg received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town. He later pursued a Master of Fine Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he met Oliver Chanarin, a fellow student who would become his frequent collaborator.
Teaching and academic career
Broomberg teaches and has held various academic positions.
He was professor of photography at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK) in Hamburg, Germany, from 2015 to 2021. He was a faculty member on Photography & Society at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK in the Hague (a course he co-designed). Broomberg's commitment to education extends beyond the classroom, as he frequently leads workshops and lectures at international institutions.
Collaboration with Oliver Chanarin
In the early 2000s he formed a creative partnership with fellow artist Oliver Chanarin (born in London, 1971). Both were awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for their publication War Primer 2. Their work has been celebrated for its intellectual rigor, technical innovation, and ability to spark meaningful dialogue. Several exhibitions, projects and publications have resulted from this collaboration until they parted with a retrospective in Barcelona:
Exhibitions
2021
The Late Estate Broomberg & Chanarin, Fabra i Coats Centre D'Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain
2019
Woe from Wit, Synthesis Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2018
Broomberg & Chanarin: Divine Violence, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Fig-futures, WEEK 3 / Broomberg & Chanarin, Kettles Yard, Cambridge, UK
Bandage the knife, not the wound, Nogueras Blanchard Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Bandage the knife, not the wound, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2017
Not For Publication And Sale In Iran, Ag Galerie, Tehran, Iran
The Bureaucracy of Angels (commission), Kings Cross St. Pancras, Art on the Underground – TFL, London, UK Trace Evidence, Lisson Gallery, Milan, Italy
2016
Don’t Start With The Good Old Things But The Bad New Ones, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2015
Every piece of dust on Freuds couch, Freud Museum, London
Rudiments, Lisson Gallery, London, UK
People in Trouble Laughing Pushed to the Ground, Belfast Exposed, Belfast, UK
To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands Divine Violence, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Publications
2015
Humans and Other Animals (monograph), Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Tate Publishing. Spirit is a Bone (monograph), Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, MACK, London, UK. .
Activism
Polaroid and apartheid + Kodak and Race
In 2013 he and Oliver Chanarin "spent a month in South Africa" to highlight the skin colour bias of photography during Apartheid when they took pictures "on decades-old film that had been engineered with only white faces in mind. They used Polaroid's vintage ID-2 camera, which had a "boost" button to increase the flash – enabling it to be used to photograph black people for the notorious passbooks, or "dompas", that allowed the state to control their movements."
Spirit is a Bone
Another project with Oliver Chanarin is Spirit is a Bone in which they try to tackle the dangers of facial recognition (e.g. in Russia) which highlights how the photographed faces do not show any contact between object and photographer and, reduced to their jobs, thus become "[...] the digital equivalent of a death mask".