African Ceremonies by Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher

This is an introduction video to the life that Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher have spent documenting African heritage through their sensational photographs. Thirty years ago American-born Carol Beckwith and Australian Angela Fisher met in Kenya and began a relationship with the African continent that would profoundly alter and shape their lives. Their journeys would take them over 270,000 miles, through remote corners of 40 countries, and to more than 150 African cultures. During this time the two photographers would produce 14 universally acclaimed books, including Maasai (1980), Nomads of the Niger (1983), Africa Adorned (1984), African Ark (1990), African Ceremonies (1999), Passages (2000), Faces of Africa (2004), Lamu: Kenyas Enchanted Island (2009), and Dinka (2010). Their defining body of work, the double volume African Ceremonies (1999), a pan-African study of rituals and rites of passage from birth to death covering ninety-three ceremonies from twenty six countries, won the United Nations Award for Excellence for its vision and understanding of the role of cultural traditions in the pursuit of world peace. Angela and Carol have also been twice honoured with the Annisfield-Wolf Book Award in race relations for outstanding contributions to the understanding of cultural diversity and prejudice, the Royal Geographical Society of Londons Cherry Kearton Medal for their contribution to the photographic recording of African ethnography and ritual, and most recently the Lifetime Achievement Award from WINGS WorldQuest honouring the accomplishments of visionary women. From their body of work in Africa over the last 10 years Carol and Angela have produced a number of limited edition books printed on the fine art presses in Santiago Chile under the directorship of Roberto Edwards. Their special limited edition books are Surma, Karo, Maasai, and Dinka. These multi-talented photographers have also been involved in the making of four films about traditional Africa including Way of the Wodaabe (1986) The Painter and the Fighter, and Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World. Their numerous photographic exhibitions have received acclaim in museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, National Geographic Museum, Smithsonian Museum of African Art, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Borges Cultural Center of Buenos Aires, National Museums of Kenya, and venues in Australia, Europe, and Japan. In 2000 their careers were celebrated at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York with a major travelling exhibition called Passages featuring 97 mural photographs, 6 video films and a selection of African masks sculpture and jewelry. This exhibition has since travelled throughout the USA, to South America and Europe. The two photographers have lectured at such venues as the Explorers Club in New York, the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C., and the Royal Geographic Society in Lo