Left: Interior, traditional home, Murewa. Right: Ndau women dancers, Chipinge.
A stone Zimbabwe Bird, photographed from the back, for the first time, revealing interesting beading and patterns on the back. This bird is in the Groote Schuur House (Cecil Rhodes old house in Cape Town). While photographing it I tried to give it some “context” making it appear as it might have done against the 12th Century stone latice work of Great Zimbabwe.
Great Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe occupies a significant place in the cultural history of sub-Saharan Africa, the majority Shona culture tracing its roots over a thousand years to the building of Great Zimbabwe, one of the most impressive ‘pre-historic’ ruins of the sub-continent.
In February 2020, we photographed the architecture of this 13th-century site and some of the legendary Zimbabwe Birds in the ruins themselves where they originally stood. This has completed the book, as the culmination of our approach to photographing Africa’s historic art in the original environment in which it fulfilled its symbolic function.
This series of images taken over 17 years records Zimbabwe’s cultural legacy
The images focus on the art of the three cultures of Zimbabwe, the Shona, Ndebele, and Tonga, and vividly illuminate the breadth of Africa’s historic art
They trace the ancient provenance of Shona culture, through links between the symbolic artefacts of the recent past, and those unearthed at Great Zimbabwe, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest and most impressive stone structure dating to 1000 AD
The spirit medium of Mbuya Nehanda, a powerful female figure throughout Zimbabwean history, serves as a leitmotif in the construction of a narrative of culture from over 2,000 photographs.
Motifs in the weave of Zimbabwean gudza, textiles woven from bark, can be traced back to the 13th-century stone walls of Great Zimbabwe. These designs work as leitmotifs, appearing on many traditional artefacts from axes to ceremonial staffs.
.