Margaret Courtney-Clarke was born in Swakopmund, Namibia in 1949 where she currently lives and works. Following a degree at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa in 1971, Courtney-Clarke enrolled at Scuola Libera di Roma in Rome, Italy in 1974 and completed her studies at the New York University (NYU), in New York City, USA with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Photojournalism in 1978.
In 2019 Courtney-Clarke was shortlisted for the 8th Contemporary African Photography Prize (CAP), as well as the prestigious Prix Pictet, the global award in photography and sustainability. Further nominations and awards for her photographic publications include the 2018 Krasznz-Krausz Book Award (longlisted), for Cry Sadness To The Coming Rain, in London, UK; the Photo District News (PDN) Award for A Lifelong Obsession with Finding Shelter in New York City, USA both in 2018 and the 2015 Henri Cartier-Bresson (HBC) Award for her series On Borrowed Time in Paris, France.
Recent exhibitions include Hope, as part of the Prix Pictet photography award shortlist - the exhibition traveled from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Porter Gallery in London, UK to the Hillside Forum in Tokyo, Japan, in 2019. It was later on view at the Luma Westbau, Zurich, before traveling to the Mouravieff-Apostol House & Museum in Moscow, Russia, both in 2020. In 2019 her work was included in Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, USA. Courtney-Clarke’s retrospective Cry Sadness To The Coming Rain was presented at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2018.