Ilan Godfrey

15/07/2026

Over the past few weeks I've been revisiting nearly two decades of photographic work.

What began as an update to my website became something far more reflective—an opportunity to engage again with the stories, people and places that have shaped my practice over the years. Returning to these bodies of work with the perspective that time affords has allowed me to engage with them on a deeper level, refining not only the writing, but my understanding of the ideas that continue to shape my practice today.

The result is a body of work that feels more complete. It brings together long-term documentary projects, recent editorial commissions and personal work exploring the social, political and environmental landscapes of Southern Africa and beyond.

If you have a moment, I'd love for you to explore the work.

www.ilangodfrey.com

As always, thank you to everyone who has supported my journey over the years.

Ilan Godfrey is a South African documentary photographer who's work explores diverse social, political, economic and environmental currents at home and abroad.

14/07/2026

Johannesburg, South Africa
A Country Divided | Part 2 of 2
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On assignment for Die Zeit, I continued documenting the unfolding impact of South Africa’s escalating anti-immigrant tensions as the June 30 deadline approached.

For some, the uncertainty ended in the decision to leave. As thousands sought assistance through diplomatic missions, many prepared to return to neighbouring countries, while others remained determined to stay and continue the lives they had built in South Africa. Across Johannesburg, embassy staff, humanitarian organisations and volunteers worked to support families navigating an uncertain future.

From the Malawian Consulate to Bosman Bus Station and the streets of Soweto, the assignment documented the many ways people responded to this moment—from families boarding buses home to demonstrations calling for stricter immigration enforcement. Together, these scenes reflected a country grappling with one of its most complex and deeply contested issues.

Thank you to Christian Vooren, Tina Ahrens and Jan Willem Bornman for their collaboration throughout the assignment.
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Writer: Christian Vooren
Director of Photography: Tina Ahrens
Field Producer: Jan Willem Bornman

14/07/2026

Johannesburg, South Africa
Communities Under Pressure | Part 1 of 2
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On assignment for Die Zeit, I documented how communities across Johannesburg responded as anti-immigrant tensions intensified ahead of the widely publicised June 30 deadline announced by anti-immigration groups.

From Mayfair to the informal settlement of Thembelihle, I met community leaders, faith leaders, residents and migrant families navigating an increasingly uncertain environment. While some called for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa, others urged calm, rejected violence and spoke about the importance of protecting neighbours who had lived and worked alongside them for decades.

The conversations revealed a far more nuanced reality than the headlines often suggest. Alongside concerns over crime, unemployment and immigration were equally strong calls for dialogue, restraint and community solidarity. As uncertainty grew, diplomatic missions such as the Malawian Consulate became gathering points where thousands sought assistance, documentation and support while deciding what came next.

Thank you to Die Zeit for the opportunity to document this important story, and to Christian Vooren, Tina Ahrens and Jan Willem Bornman for a rewarding collaboration throughout the assignment.
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Writer: Christian Vooren
Director of Photography: Tina Ahrens
Field Producer: Jan Willem Bornman
The Wall Street Journal

14/07/2026

Durban, South Africa
Waiting to Return | Part 2 of 2
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At Sherwood Grounds in Durban, thousands of displaced foreign nationals sought temporary shelter after leaving their homes amid escalating anti-immigrant tensions.

As humanitarian organisations, volunteers and diplomatic officials coordinated emergency relief, families queued for food, water, clothing and medical supplies while immigration officials processed documentation for those preparing to return home. Mobile phones were charged at makeshift power stations, children played between tents, and belongings wrapped in plastic awaited the long journey back to Malawi and other neighbouring countries.

For many, the camp became a place of safety, uncertainty and transition, where lives built over many years in South Africa were reduced to a handful of belongings while governments, embassies and aid organisations worked to coordinate voluntary repatriation efforts.

Thank you again to The Wall Street Journal for the opportunity, and to Alexandra Wexler for her powerful reporting.
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Writer: Alexandra Wexler
Picture Editor: Angela Owens
The Wall Street Journal

14/07/2026

Durban, South Africa
Seeking Protection | Part 1 of 2
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On assignment for The Wall Street Journal, I documented the growing humanitarian impact of South Africa’s escalating anti-immigrant tensions in Durban.

Outside the Department of Home Affairs, hundreds of refugees, asylum seekers and other foreign nationals camped on the pavements as they waited for documentation, protection, or guidance on what would come next. Many said they no longer felt safe returning to the communities where they had been living after a wave of threats and attacks targeting foreign nationals.

Among those waiting were people who had lived in South Africa for years—some legally, others with asylum claims or expired documentation—yet many now found themselves displaced, uncertain of their future, and seeking safety outside the very institution responsible for determining their status.

Grateful to The Wall Street Journal for the opportunity, and to Alexandra Wexler for her reporting that brought these stories together.
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Writer: Alexandra Wexler
Picture Editor: Angela Owens
The Wall Street Journal

14/07/2026

'Mr. Joburg' Reclaims Downtown From Decay, Building by Building
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Johannesburg’s inner city has long been described through the language of decline - abandonment, crime, decay. But on the ground, especially around Gandhi Square, the city tells a more complicated story.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people move through this space: commuting, trading, waiting, working. The buildings here are not just real estate, but sites of negotiation - between public failure and private intervention, survival and order, exclusion and access.

At the center of this precinct is Gerald Olitzki, often referred to as “Mr. Joburg,” a private investor who has spent decades acquiring, managing and restoring buildings in the southwest of the CBD. His work has reshaped Gandhi Square into a controlled, functioning core within a largely neglected inner city.

These photographs move between that core and its edges. They trace daily life in spaces that show signs of order and investment, and in those that remain in decline just beyond it. Rather than presenting renewal as a single, coherent outcome, the work reflects a fragmented city - one where improvement and hardship exist side by side, often separated by a single street.

What emerges is not a simple narrative of rescue or decay, but a lived city - contested, resilient, and very much alive.
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Photographed for:
Reporter: Prinesha Naidoo and Antony Sguazzin
Photo Editor:

24/11/2025

A Feeling of Violence
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Violence and fear in the South African town of Brits are very real - but they exist within the context of South Africa’s high crime rate, not a “white genocide.”

Political figures abroad, like Donald Trump, have amplified these fears, offering asylum to white South Africans and spreading the narrative of systematic persecution.

Meanwhile, locals arm themselves, trying to protect their homes from crime and uncertainty. These images capture the tension between real threats, historical legacies, and global politics in this small town.
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1 & 2 - Anet Coetzee, 61, experienced a traumatic ordeal when a shotgun round was fired at her through her window as she lay in bed, causing severe facial injuries and permanent blindness in her right eye.

3 - Robert Alan Feldman, 63, lives behind security bars at his home in Brits. He describes a home invasion where men entered while he and his family slept. A scuffle ensued, and one of the intruders was accidentally shot with his own gun. Feldman was severely beaten in the ordeal.

4 - Samuel Matome, 51 (left), and Astrid Poorter, 62 (right), at Topaz Flower Nurseries and Farm. Both of Astrid’s parents were beaten on the farm where they lived and later succumbed to their injuries three years ago.

3 - Once a month, Afriforum members gather to discuss security in Brits and surrounding areas before heading out on patrols.

4 - Carin Holtzhausen, 50, waits for the rest of the convoy before patrolling the dusty backroads connecting various farms.

5 - Marius Kearns, 57, pilots a drone equipped with thermal and night vision capabilities to monitor suspicious activity over urban and rural farmland.

6 - Pieter Breedt, 44, assists with a drone equipped with thermal and night vision capabilities to detect suspicious activity across large areas.
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Photographed for:
Reporter: Muriel Kalisch
Photo Editor: Henriette Simons .penny

12/11/2025

Some recent work shot over two days on the revitalization of downtown Johannesburg for Bloomberg - reporting by Prinesha Naidoo and Antony Sguazzin

Gerald Olitzki, a lawyer turned property developer, has been reclaiming parts of Johannesburg’s old central business district from slumlords. He's making it safe, clean and functional — all at a profit. Read more: https://bloom.bg/4hLAIlO

📷: Ilan Godfrey/Bloomberg

01/07/2025

U.S. helped halt Africa’s HIV crisis; now Trump’s cuts force reckoning
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An assignment in March took me to Eswatini, where The Luke Foundation—a charity that runs the Miracle Campus and is founded and led by the dedicated husband and wife duo Echo and Harry VanderWal—has transformed lives through vital HIV treatment, maternal health care, and compassionate community support.

For over two decades, U.S. initiatives like PEPFAR and USAID funding brought lifesaving antiretroviral treatment to millions across Southern Africa—dramatically improving life expectancy and offering hope where little existed before. These investments enabled clinics to thrive, nurses to serve, and communities to heal.

But today, abrupt aid cuts stemming from Trump-era budget decisions have forced these open doors to close. The foundation, once a place of welcome, now faces the painful reality of turning patients away. Across the region, long-standing health programs—HIV testing, treatment counseling, prenatal care—are shuttered, health workers laid off, and progress threatens to unravel.

These photographs capture a moment suspended between past triumph and an uncertain future—where the human cost of political decisions echoes in every waiting room, every empty chair, and every life deferred.
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With much gratitude to for the opportunity to work on this important story, written by for .

For

09/02/2025

South Africans demand answers after mine tragedy: ‘How many more must die?’

It has been ten years since my first exploration into the underbelly of South Africa’s illegal mining sector. Early visits to abandoned gold mines around Johannesburg gave me an insight into the dangers people face, desperate in their need to go deep underground through treacherous shafts some descending three to four kilometres in search of gold.

Yet nothing has changed.

Reporter, Tabeki Timse and I visited Khuma and the adjacent Buffelsfontein mine in Stilfontein to meet survivors, rescuers and families who are overwhelmed by the recent tragedy that has beset their community, where 78 bodies and 246 survivors were recovered after a lengthy standoff with police that lasted several months.

- Materials are seen above the decommissioned Buffelsfontein gold mine on Sunday.

- Ayanda Ndabeni, 35, made his way into the Buffelsfontein mine in September to work as an informal miner and was later rescued in an operation in November.

- Zinzi Tom, 31, hasn’t seen her brother Ayanda since July, when the 28-year-old went underground to work as an informal miner to support his family.

- A volunteer who participated in the rescue effort in the Buffelsfontein mine and who was photographed on the condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals. He said he was struck by the smell of decomposing corpses as he entered the shaft.
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For report by Tabelo Timse and with thanks to for the opportunity to work on this important story.