Pieter Hugo was born in 1976 in Johannesburg and grew up in Cape Town, where he continues to live. His survey exhibition, This Must Be the Place, opened at the Fotomuseum Den Haag and travelled to the Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2012; the exhibition continues to tour. Solo shows have also taken place at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2010); Le Château d’Eau in Toulouse, France (2010); the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney (2009), and Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam (2008). Group exhibitions include The Global Contemporary: Art worlds after 1989 at ZKM Center for Art and Media
Karlsruhe (2011); The Endless Renaissance, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida (2009); Street & Studio: an urban history of photography at Tate Modern, London (2008); An Atlas of Events at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (2007); and the 27th São Paulo Bienal (2006).
He won first prize in the Portraits section of the 2006 World Press Photo competition, and was the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art in 2007. In 2008 Hugo was the winner of the KLM Paul Huf Award and the Arles Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles in France. He won the Seydou Keita Award at the 9th Rencontres de Bamako African Photography Biennial, Mali, in 2011, and was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse photography prize 2012.