The South African photographer David Goldblatt has left us. Like many others, I’ve paused to mourn his passing and to reflect on his legacy. He was, of course, one of the most significant artists of his time. But he will also be remembered as a mentor to several generations of younger photographers and as a founder of Johannesburg’s Market Photo Workshop. Over the last three decades, the Workshop’s classes, exhibitions, and publications have made it one of the world’s most influential centers for photography.

Yet Goldblatt’s photos are little known in the United States, except for the relatively small group of people who have noticed that people outside of Europe and North America use cameras to make pictures. In 2013, when the International Center of Photography, in New York, presented him with the Cornell Cape Lifetime Achievement Award, I wrote a short essay for an online publication which drew most of its readers from the photo industry and arts community. In it I directly addressed my fellow American’s photographic blindspot. That essay has since disappeared from the internet, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to republish it. I’ve lightly edited the version below.