Afrapix played a seminal role in the development of socially informed documentary photography in South Africa, producing some of the most compelling images of apartheid in the 1980s.
The group challenged the role of the photographer as a witness to events, by establishing underground political organisations that formed part of the resistance arts movement. They believed in using their skills as photographers to bring about change within the country and became leading proponents of what became known as struggle photography.
The collective dissolved in 1991, but many of its members continued to work as documentary photographers including Santu Mofokeng, Omar Badsha, Lesley Lawson, Paul Weinberg, Biddy Partridge, Mxolise Mayo, Gille de Vlieg and Guy Tillim.
