Flex Mentallo

“Forty percent of the ceremonies we recorded no longer exist,” she notes.

“We feel privileged to have spent 40 years in Africa recording ceremonies in 44 out of the 54 African countries. When we arrive in Africa, we take on Africa time. We work slowly, live with communities, make friends and build trust before we start taking photographs.” Carol Beckwith

A Wodaabe nomad taking the women across Niger on camelback at one point described their project as "maagani yegitata," which translates as "medicine not to forget." What they ultimately created is a lasting record of a fading culture as well as a heartfelt tribute to a world that many of us will never have the opportunity to witness for ourselves.

The pair met in Africa in 1978, each working on her first book, and developed a friendship. Years later, they got the idea to document the traditions and ceremonies of tribes across the African continent, many of which are dying out, some of which were secret and had never been photographed before.

Between them, Beckwith and Fisher have published 14 books, and have had their photos appear in National Geographic, Natural History, African Arts, The Observer Magazine, Time, Life, Vogue, Marie Claire and Elle. They continue to exhibit and lecture at galleries and museums worldwide, including The American Museum of Natural History and The Explorers Club in New York City, The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and the Royal Geographical Society in London. They have also collaborated on four films about African traditions. Together they have received numerous accolades, including the United Nations Award for Excellence, the Royal Geographical Society's Cherry Kearton Medal, two Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, The Explorers Club's Lowell Thomas Award, and the WINGS WorldQuest Lifetime Achievement Award

For decades, photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have explored remote communities in Africa, documenting sacred initiations, courtship rituals, shamanic mask dancing and jubilant creative works, capturing these vivid and fleeting rites.

Hundreds of years of racism and imperialism has left Africa labelled, “the Dark Continent.” At the very least, Africa is a very big place; a place that also just so happens to be both the first home of the human race and remains the home of 1.288 billion people today, and for all those years in between that continent witnessed the rise and change of countless cultures within it.

Published twenty years apart, yet almost identical in form and presentation, these are amazing books. Of the hundreds of photos, the bulk are printed at full page and many even span a full two-page spread. printed on heavily coated gloss stock. The photo reproductions are stunning in their clarity and brightness, the colors of Africa virtually leaping off the page.

“These books will open the eyes and hearts of those who seek to reconnect the beauty and sacredness of these ancient rituals with a culturally impoverished and spiritually distressed modern world." Malidoma Patrice Somé author and shaman

African Ceremonies/African Twilight Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry about the low quality images taken from my copy. There are very few extant images available on the internet, but here are some that I managed to find, of varying quality.

When you consider the quality of the color film stocks available in the late 60's & early 70's, the difficulty of shooting in extreme cold, & the difficulty of preserving the exposed film until development could take place; the end results are even more remarkable.

Shirakawa's work encompasses four parts of the Himalaya: Nepal, Punjab (Kashmir), Sikkim, and the Hindu Kush. He describes in his travel narratives the difficulty of creating a photo book encompassing the entirety of the range when there were so many political restrictions on where he could go and what he could photograph in the late 1960s. His perseverance served him well, however, and he got not only access but encouragement in his photography and travel in Nepal during the 1965-1969 ban on foreign visitation to the outlying areas (including the use of the King's private plane and trekking access to Everest, Annapurna, and Kanchenjunga), air access to the Afghan side of the Hindu Kush, and permission to enter Kashmir. He was thwarted, however, in his attempts to enter Garwhal, northern Pakistan, and Bhutan. His need to work on a tight schedule and a tight budget often placed his life in danger, such as trekking to Everest Base Camp without proper acclimatization or flying at dizzying heights with little or no oxygen.

Over 17" tall, this book is a magnificent publication. It has stood the test of time and is at least the equal of any photography book published since at least in my experience. [NB If these photos give you the urge to get one, make sure it is the first edition from 1971 as later editions are inferior in size and quality.]