Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

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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.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

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African Ceremonies/African Twilight

Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Flex Mentallo

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“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

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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.

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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.

Edited December 26, 2019 by Flex Mentallo

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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.

 

 

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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

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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.

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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.

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“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

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

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“We learned the value of rites of passage that define and teach us what to expect at every stage of life,” adds Fisher.

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“We hope people take away the richness, diversity, beauty and creativity of African cultures.”

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The camera seems never to have any effect on the proceedings, the act of recording apparently not having interfered with what was being recorded. It is a thoroughly candid work, engaging at every step, anthropology at its finest.

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None of the shots ever come across as staged, nor do they ever present the subjects within as “other” or “foreign”. Instead, the book embeds as much context and history into its pages as possible, making sure that the most possible amount of information surrounding these ceremonies is present.

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In doing so, the images within these book cannot be divorced from context, nor from the care, worth, and value that their culture imbues into these ceremonies, and in turn they refuse to ignore or dismiss value, humanity, and beauty of these cultures, these arts, and the people who maintain them.