Billy Monk Collection

The Billy Monk Collection is the sole custodian of Billy Monk's archive and exists with the support of his daughter, Collette Monk. Monk's archive is small (barely filling three lever arch files) but an important document of 1960s Cape Town. The aim of the Billy Monk Collection is to safeguard his opus and preserve this legacy for generations to come.

Craig Cameron-Mackintosh

Craig Cameron-Mackintosh is a painter with a background in filmmaking, having directed the short documentary on the life and work of Billy Monk entitled Billy Monk – Shot in the Dark. He has a deep appreciation for Monk’s iconic photographs which present a refreshing take on the imagery we typically see from this period in South Africa’s history.

Gavin Furlonger

Gavin Furlonger, renowned for his long-standing contribution to South Africa’s photographic community, has spent the better part of his career unearthing and salvaging undiscovered bodies of photographic work and championing the preservation of our collective photographic heritage. He has been a custodian of the Billy Monk estate since 2013.

Past Exhibitions

  • The Market Gallery, Johannesburg, July 1982. Nightclub.

  • University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, March 1985. Nagklub/Billy Monk.

  • Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 1993. From the Bridge to the Catacombs: Photographs by Billy Monk and David Wise.

  • Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, June – August 2009. Jol.

  • Brighton Photo Biennial, Brighton, October – November 2010. BPB Curated: New Ways of Looking.

  • Stevenson, Cape Town, March – April 2011. Nightclub Photographs.

  • International Center of Photography, New York, September 2012 – January 2013. Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life.

  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), San Francisco, December 2012 – March 2013. South Africa in Apartheid and After: David Goldblatt, Ernest Cole, Billy Monk.

  • A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, September 2017 – January 2018. You & I.

  • Investec Cape Town Art Fair, 15 – 17 February 2019. A Clean Heart and a Cheerful Spirit.

  • Ink Asia (part of Fine Art Asia), Hong Kong, 4 – 7 October 2019. Works included in Boogie Woogie Photography’s booth.

  • The Container, Tokyo + The Hive Spring, Hong Kong, 27 September 2019 – 6 January 2020. Defiance and Decadence Under Apartheid.

  • Association for Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town, 4 March – 9 July 2020. Love in a Loveless Time.

  • Pékin Fine Arts, Hong Kong, 8 August – 13 October 2020. Large Format, Small Space.

  • Ink Asia (part of Fine Art Asia), Hong Kong, 27 – 30 November 2020. Works included in Boogie Woogie Photography’s booth.

  • Latitudes Online, 15th July 2021. UNSEEN.

  • THEFOURTH, Cape Town, March 2022. Death Row Dinner.

Books

  • Lin Sampson, ‘Now You’ve Gone ‘n Killed Me: True Stories of Crime, Passion and Ballroom Dancing’. Oshun, 2005.

  • David Goldblatt, Jac de Villiers and Lin Sampson, ‘Billy Monk’. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2011

  • Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, 'The Photobook: A History Volume III’. Phaidon, 2014.

  • Ashraf Jamal, ‘Strange Cargo’. Skira, 2021.