"Monk used his Pentax like Hemingway did his Royal typewriter, beautifully rendering brutal stories."

– Sean O'Toole, 'Mad Bad Monk', Sunday Times Lifestyle, 5 July 2009

"His name was Billy Monk. The name suited the character somehow, for he had become an icon of the underworld, the seedy eye of the 1960s."

– Jac de Villiers (Foreword entitled 'The Seedy Eye of the Sixties' from the book 'Billy Monk')

"By day it was a pet grooming shop, but at night, the Catacombs club was one of the most crowded hang outs in Cape Town."

– Lucy Davies, 'Billy Monk: the bouncer who just kept on snapping', The Telegraph, 27 February 2012

"What he was extremely good at - a natural, in fact - was capturing the energy and, at the same time, the sadness of the club."

– Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, 'The Photobook: A History Volume III'

"Monk's non-judgmental, even cool-eyed awareness of the photographic possibilities of the bizarre pervades the work, and yet this awareness is never denigratingly exploitative."

– David Goldblatt (Foreword entitled 'The Spirit of Billy Monk' from the book 'Billy Monk')

"This is a glimpse here, too, of another South Africa, an underground scene in which the taboo of inter-racial sex is flaunted."

– Sean O'Hagan, 'Billy Monk's photos: an epitaph to a life lived on the edge', The Guardian, 31 January 2012

"There is a strongly empathetic spirit throughout. The chemistry between Monk and the clubbers is evident in the openness with which his subjects sit, stand or perform. These are photographs by an insider of insiders for insiders"

– David Goldblatt (Foreword entitled 'The Spirit of Billy Monk' from the book 'Billy Monk')