Anti-apartheid photographer David Goldblatt

David Goldblatt, a South African photographer who for decades chronicled the harsh fallout of white minority rule in his country, has died at the age of 87.

Mr Goldblatt, whose images were shown in media and museums around the world, was a “legend, a teacher, a national icon and a man of absolute integrity”, the Johannesburg-based Goodman Gallery said in a statement.

The photographer died peacefully at his home in the city, said the gallery, which showcased his portfolio.

Mr Goldblatt used his cameras to explore apartheid and its devastating impact on daily lives, photographing blacks and whites in quiet ways that highlighted the state-backed system of racial repression, in contrast to news photography that focused on tumultuous events making international headlines.

Apartheid ended with all-race elections in 1994 which propelled Nelson Mandela to the presidency.

Descended from Lithuanian immigrants, Mr Goldblatt documented South African blacks working in mines or travelling under racist laws that restricted their movements, as well as privileged whites at home, along with routine interactions between the races that showed, in his words, how South Africa’s normality was distinctly abnormal and abhorrent.

He once said: “During those years my prime concern was with values – what did we value in South Africa? How did we get to those values, and how did we express those values?

“I was very interested in the events that were taking place in the country as a citizen but, as a photographer, I’m not particularly interested, and I wasn’t then, in photographing the moment that something happens. I’m interested conditions that give rise to events.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa, a close aide to Mr Mandela and key negotiator in the early 1990s transition to democracy, said Mr Goldblatt was a “leading documenter” of the South African struggle.

The president said: “He captured the social and moral value systems that portrayed South Africa during a period of apartheid system in order to influence its changing political landscape.

“Our country remains proud of his contribution to the portrayal of its life through the medium of photography and for leaving an indelible mark in our inclusive literary culture.”

Mr Goldblatt’s photographs are included in collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and other museums around the world. in the

David Goldblatt documented the struggle of black South Africans.