Jo Ractliffe lives in Johannesburg. She teaches at the Wits School of Arts, Wits University and in 2010 was a Writing Fellow at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (Wiser). For the past five years her work has focused on the aftermath of the war in Angola fought from 1975 until 2002. The second body of work from this investigation, As Terras do Fim do Mundo was nominated for the 2011 Discovery Prize at the Rencontres d’Arles, and best photobook of 2010 at the International Photobook Festival in Kassel (June 2011).

Group exhibitions include New Topography of War at Le Bal, Paris (2011); Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity, The Walther Collection in Neu-Ulm/Burlafingen, Southern Germany (2010); the seventh Gwangju Biennale, Korea (2008); Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, International Centre for Photography, New York (2006), and The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society, Second International Biennial of Contemporary Art (Biacs 2), Seville, Spain (2006). Her solo shows include As Terras do Fim do Mundo in Austria (2012), New York and Johannesburg (2011) and Cape Town (2010). Ractliffe’s work is included in various public and private collections.