Celebrate the cycle of life with “Passages: Photographs in Africa” by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. The exhibition demonstrates that humans, despite regional and cultural differences, share a common journey. Experience this powerful display at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California from November 15, 2008 through April 15, 2009 in the Janice Frey Smith and Robert Gumbiner Galleries.

Acclaimed photographers Beckwith and Fisher are known for their vibrant images of African life. Together, they’ve journeyed more than 270,000 miles by foot, camel-back, dugout canoe, and four-wheel-drive vehicles to the continent’s remotest corners. For over 30 years, they’ve lived among indigenous peoples, shared their daily lives, and gained access to photograph sacred ceremonies and traditions little known to the outside world. No other artists in any era have captured so many images of authentic and ancient ritual practices.

“Passages” features photographs of Africa’s cycle of life and the spiritual beliefs of its societies. More than 90 large-scale color images are grouped throughout the exhibition according to birth and initiation, courtship and marriage, royalty and power, seasonal rites, beliefs and worship, and finally death and passage to the spirit world.

Images include coming-of-age ceremonies for Maasai boys in Kenya and Krobo girls in Ghana, extraordinary stick fighting as part of a courtship ritual among the Surma of southwestern Ethiopia, and wedding ceremonies of Himba women adorned with ocher earth of northwestern Namibia. Among the most intriguing ceremonies are the Wodaabe charm dances from central Niger. As part of their courtship, Wodaabe men dress in elaborate costumes and wear makeup for a “beauty contest” judged by women.

Six video monitors display vibrant footage of ceremonies shown in the photographs. Featured are scenes of a Voodoo Kokuzahn ceremony from Ghana, a Dogon burial and masked Dama ceremony from Mali, a male Wodaabe charm dance, Surma body painting, and stick fighting. Musician and composer David Bradnum, who often travelled with the photographers, has compiled an inspiring accompaniment to the documentary video footage.

African objects representing cultures and themes seen — including jewelry, masks, sculpture, and more — further bring the exhibit to life. The photographers have loaned their items such as Surma ear plugs and lip plates, Wodaabe pendant necklaces, and Fulani earrings from Mali. Works from the Museum’s permanent collection exemplify African adornment and ceremonial objects from native cultures in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In “Passages,” we view dramatic images of time-honored ceremonial traditions of moving through life’s phases. During our more safe and comfortable “expedition” through Africa, we find heart in the cycle of life. For their dedication in bringing these images to light, Beckwith and Fisher deserve passage to artistic immortality.

About the Photographers

Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher followed a lifelong dream to document ancient cultures of Africa. In 1978, the two photographers met at a Maasai warrior ceremony in East Africa where they quickly recognized a common desire to record sacred ceremonies marking rites of passage within African life. Together, they have produced a body of work that has garnered countless awards, media attention, and critical praise by artists, politicians, and peacemakers worldwide.

Before they began their collaboration, Beckwith and Fisher each lived and travelled extensively through Africa. Beckwith was born in the United States and educated at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She has been cited by United Press International as “foremost among photographers who have recorded the cultures of the Far East, Pacific, and Africa.” She is the author of two books on African cultures. Her first, Maasai, won the prestigious Annisfield-Wolf Award in Race Relations, and her second, Nomads of Niger, was based on her three-year experience living with the Wodaabe nomads.

Fisher was born in Australia and educated at Adelaide University. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed Africa Adorned, a 14-year study of traditional jewelry and body decoration covering the entire continent of Africa. It was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and the subject of a 34-page cover story in National Geographic. Fisher is also a jewelry designer and has exhibited her collection of African jewelry throughout the world.

Together, Beckwith and Fisher have produced 12 books on Africa. Their first, African Ark, a five-year study of the peoples and cultures of the Horn of Africa, received numerous awards including the Institute of Human Origins Prize, The Golden Hand of Lucy, and the Annisfeld-Wolf Award in Race Relations. This was subsequently followed by their celebrated masterwork, the double-volume African Ceremonies which formed the basis for the “Passages” exhibition. This work received the United Nations Award of Excellence for their “vision and understanding of the role of cultural traditions in the pursuit of peace in the world.”  It was also awarded the London Royal Geographical Society’s Kearton Medal for recording ethnography and ritual, and named the French Biarritz Photography Festival’s best book of the year. Beckwith and Fisher next produced Faces of Africa: Thirty Years of Photography, followed by a series of limited edition books on the art of body-painting — Surma, Karo, and Maasai (The Art of Ochre in Africa). Their latest book, Dinka, a limited edition, will be launched at the Bowers Museum Sunday, November 16th, with a lecture and book signing.

The Bowers Museum

The Bowers Museum is an internationally-celebrated institution of art and culture dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of fine arts from around the world. To achieve its mission to “enrich lives through the world’s finest arts and cultures,” the Bowers offers exhibitions, lectures, art classes, travel programs, children’s art and music education, and other community programs. Its philosophy is to help people learn about other cultures through their arts and offer a greater understanding of ourselves and appreciation of the world in which we live.

The museum’s permanent collection is particularly strong in the areas of African, South Pacific, Asian, Native American, Pre-Columbian art, and California plein-air painting. The Bowers has organized some of the most culturally significant exhibitions in history, including “Secret World of the Forbidden City,” “The Dead Sea Scrolls,” “Egyptian Treasures of The British Museum,” and ”Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World.”  

The Museum is located at 2002 North Main Street in Santa Ana. Hours are Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00 am–4:00 pm and the fourth Thursday of every month, 10:00 am–8:00 pm. For more information, call (714) 567-3600 or log on to www.bowers.org. Find information on Bowers Kidseum, dedicated to providing children a fun environment where imagination and creativity are both encouraged and nurtured.