Gideon Mendel is a London based South African photographer. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1959. He graduated with a degree in Psychology and African Economic history from the University of Cape Town. In 1990, he moved to London, where he currently resides. While his occupation is photography, he is known for using his photography for activist purposes and aims to give individual people a voice. He is also known for photographing the topic of HIV/AIDS, which he has been actively doing since 1993.
Before moving to London, he photographed the “change and conflict in South Africa in the lead up to Nelson Mandela's release from prison, working with Agence France-Presse, and as a correspondent of Magnum Photos." Mendel has won many prestigious photography awards, specifically six World Press photo awards. In 1996, he won the Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography for his work on AIDS in Africa. He has also won the Amnesty International Media Award. He is a part of the group Network Photographers in London.