John Liebenberg was born in 1958, in Johannesburg where he also currently works and lives.
He was introduced to Namibia in 1976 when together with his fellow conscripts he was sent to Ondangwa Air-force base near the border with Angola. He later returned to Namibia and in 1985 was appointed photographer for a new weekly, ‘The Namibian’. Following independence, he and his family moved to Johannesburg, from where he covered the Angolan civil war as freelancer for Reuters. He later joined Media 24 magazines, mostly working for Drum.
He is a senior and established news photographer whose work has been exhibited in Africa and Europe. His Namibian photographic collection documenting Swapo’s War of Liberation and the South African occupation is widely used by historians, researchers and filmmakers. Liebenberg’s exhibitions include Rise and Fall of Apartheid at ICP, New York, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Pac, Milan, Museum Africa, Johannesburg, Namibia at the first African Photography Encounters In Bamako, Framing Fashion at the Brighton Museum, Brighton.
SOLO SHOWS
2011
Weekends at the Okomboni, John Muafangejo art centre Windhoek, Namibia
2008
John Liebenberg Photo exhibition, Goethe Institute / Iwalewa- haus Nairobi, Kenya
1994
Namibia of today, The French cultural centre, Windhoek, Namibia
Photographic Encounters, Paris, France
Namibia of Today, Bamako, Mali
1993
Democracy you cannot eat, The State Archive, Bremen, Germany
1991
The Marriage, an exhibition of post independent Namibia, The Namibian arts association, Windhoek, Namibia
Namibia, The red factory, Zurich, Switzerland
Namibia, The Eye, Geneva, Switzerland
The eye of the elephant, Vienna, Austria
The eye of the elephant, The Baxter Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
1990
The eye of the elephant, Namibian arts association, Windhoek, Namibia
Independence exhibition India, Department Arts and Culture Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
The eye of the elephant, The great hall , University of the
Witwatersrand, for the SA Institute of International affairs, Johannesburg, South Africa
Photographs from Namibia, for the ECC, East London, South Africa
1989
The Rainy season, The Market Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1988
Images of Today, Swakopmund, Namibia
GROUP SHOWS
2019
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Industria, New York, USA
2018 – 2019
Framing Fashion, Brighton Museum, Brighton, UK
2018
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
2017
A Short History of South African Photography, Time Maps. Memory, Archive, Future, Fotografia Europea , Reggio Emilia, Italy
2016
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Pioneer Works, New York, USA
2015
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Afronova, Somerset House, London, UK
2013 – 2015
The Rise and Fall of Apartheid , International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, USA – Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy – Museum Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
2014
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Afronova, Somerset House, London, UK
Every one hundredth of a second, Windhoek, Namibia.
2013
Both sides, Res Gallery, Johannesburg , South Africa
Mekondjo, Portraits of PLAN veterans with Christo
Doherty, Grahamstown National Arts festival, Grahamstown, South Africa
2012
Whose war was it anyway, Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.