Carol Beckwith (born July 10, 1945) is an American photographer, author, and artist known for her
photojournalism
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
documenting the indigenous tribal cultures of Africa, most notably in partnership with the Australian photographer
Angela Fisher. Between them, Beckwith and Fisher have published 14 books, and have had their photos appear in ''
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
'', ''
Natural History
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
'', ''
African Arts
African art encompasses modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual cultures originating from indigenous African diaspora, African communities across the African continent. The definition may also include the ar ...
'', ''
The Observer Magazine'', ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', ''
Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'', ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ' ...
'', ''
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages.
The feature editions focus on women aro ...
'' and ''
Elle
Elle may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication
** Elle Style Awards
* Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition
* Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film
* ''Elle: ...
''.
They continue to exhibit and lecture at galleries and museums worldwide, including
The American Museum of Natural History and
The Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...
in New York City,
The Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trus ...
in Washington, DC, and the
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
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 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...
, The Explorers Club's
Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, Television presenter, broadcaster, and documentary filmmaker. He authored more than fifty non-fiction books, mostly travel narratives and popular biographies of ex ...
Award, and the WINGS WorldQuest Lifetime Achievement Award.
[African Ceremonies](_blank)
(official site)
Biography
Early life
Carol Beckwith was born in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts, where she went on to attend both the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a dedicated art school within Tufts University, a private research university in Mass ...
and
Goucher College
Goucher College ( ') is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a Nonsectarian, nonsecterian Women's colleges in the United States, ...
in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. After obtaining her degree in Painting and Photography, she won a traveling fellowship from the
Boston Museum, which let her travel to other countries for the first time.
She spent seven months in Japan, living in a
Zen
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
temple and studying calligraphic painting. She continued to travel through Southeast Asia and
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, where she witnessed a "
sing-sing", a gathering of 90,000 Highland warriors, in
Mount Hagen
Mount Hagen () is the third largest city in Papua New Guinea, with a population of 46,250. It is the capital of the Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea, Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainlan ...
, and paddled up
Chambri Lakes
The Chambri Lakes are a series of swamps and shallow water canals in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea that are seasonally filled by the flooding of the Sepik river in vast area of . During the northwest monsoon season, from September ...
in a canoe, an experience she called "one of the most wonderful, and in a way formative, experiences in my life."
Her first trip to Africa was in 1973, when she was invited to spend Christmas with a friend in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. Beckwith bought a 45-day roundtrip ticket and ended up staying eight months. There she encountered the
Maasai people
The Maasai (;) are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region. who invited her to witness a
female circumcision
Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. FGM prevalence varies ...
ceremony. Astonished by the ritual, she then determined to spend more time with the Maasai.
Career
Beckwith studied photography in college but had initially intended to become a painter. It was during her travels through New Guinea that she realized the advantages of photography, saying that "there was such a vast amount of exciting material that I began to photograph instead, approaching photography with the eye of a painter in terms of light, color, composition. I wanted the images to be multilayered experiences in a way that a painting is. . .
hotographyseemed to be a more suitable medium for the pace of travel."
Beckwith's first major collaboration was with Tepilit Ole Saitoti, an
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
and former Maasai warrior whom she met in Boston during one of her painting exhibitions. Their collaboration produced the book ''Maasai'' (
Abrams, 1980). She also collaborated with anthropologist Marion van Offelen to produce ''Nomads of Niger'' (
Abrams, 1983), a monograph on the
Wodaabe
The Wodaabe (, , ''𞤏𞤮𞤯𞤢𞥄𞤩𞤫'') is a name that is used to designate a subgroup of the Fula ethnic group who are traditionally nomadic and found primarily in Niger and Chad. All Wodaabe people should not be mistaken as Mbororo ...
cattle herders. Although she did not have formal training in
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
, through working alone as well as with other anthropologists such as Saitoti, van Offelen and Linda Donley-Reid, she "was able to absorb techniques of interviewing, to learn what questions to ask in order to explore the many aspects of traditional African life."
Collaboration with Angela Fisher
Beckwith first heard about Angela Fisher through Fisher's brother Simon in 1974, during a hot air balloon ride in Maasai country. They met during Fisher's exhibition of traditional African jewelry in Nairobi, where they discovered they shared a passion for documenting traditional African cultures. Within one week, they were photographing a Maasai warrior ceremony together.
"Faces of Africa" Photographers on Their 30-Year Endeavor
/ref>
During more than three decades of collaboration, they produced ''African Ark'' (Abrams, 1990), ''African Ceremonies'' (Abrams, 1999), ''Passages'' (Abrams, 2000), ''Surma'' (Taller Experimental, 2002), ''Karo'' (Taller Experimental, 2002), ''Maasai, Himba, Hamar'' (Taller Experimental, 2002), ''Faces of Africa'' (Abrams, 2004), ''Lamu: Kenya's Enchanted Island'' (Abrams, 2009), and ''Dinka'' (Abrams, 2010). They are currently (2011) working on completing their pan-African study of the art of body painting
Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or ...
for a book entitled ''Africa: Spirit of Paint'', as well as on their third and final installation of ''African Ceremonies'', titled ''African Twilight'', scheduled for publication in 2013. Beckwith resides in New York City and Fisher in London.
Media
Books
* 1980 ''Maasai'' (text by Tepilit Ole Saitoti.). USA: Abrams; UK, Germany and France: Abradale.
* 1983 ''Nomads of Niger'' (text by Marion van Offelen.). USA: Abrams; France: Abradale.
* 1990 ''African Ark: People and Ancient Cultures of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher and Graham Hancock
Graham Bruce Hancock (born 2 August 1950) is a British journalist and author who promotes pseudoscientific ideas about ancient civilizations and hypothetical lost lands. Hancock proposes that an advanced civilization with spiritual technology ...
). USA, UK, France, Germany and Italy: Abrams.
* 1999 ''African Ceremonies I'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). USA, UK, France, Germany and Italy: Abrams. United Nations "Award for Excellence" for 1999.
* 1999 ''African Ceremonies II'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). USA, UK, France, Germany and Italy: Abrams. United Nations "Award for Excellence" for 1999.
* 2000 ''Passages'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). USA and France: Abrams.
* 2002 ''African Ceremonies Concise'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). USA and France: Abrams.
* 2002 ''Surma'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). Santiago, Chile: Taller Experimental.
* 2002 ''Karo'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). Santiago, Chile: Taller Experimental.
* 2002 ''Maasai, Himba, Hamar'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). Santiago, Chile: Taller Experimental.
* 2004 ''Faces of Africa'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). USA and France: National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...
.
* 2008 ''Dinka: 2008'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). Chile: R.E.Producciones; California, USA: Timeless Art Productions. HP Indigo Award.
* 2009 ''Lamu: Kenya's Enchanted Island'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher, David Coulson and Nigel Pavitt). USA: Rizzoli. ForeWord Reviews' "Book of the Year" Award for 2009.
* 2010 ''Dinka: Legendary Cattle Keepers of Sudan'' (co-authored with Angela Fisher). USA: Rizzoli.
* 2012 ''Painted Bodies: African Body Painting, Tattoos and Scarification''. USA: Rizzoli
* 2018 ''African Twilight: The Vanishing Rituals and Ceremonies of the African Continent''. USA: Rizzoli
Film and TV
* 1986 ''Way of the Wodaabe''
* 1988 ''Nomads of Niger''
* 1990 ''The Painter and the Fighter''
* 1992 ''Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World''
Awards and honors
*1991: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...
in race relations for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of cultural diversity and prejudice"
*1999: United Nations Award for Excellence
*2009: Book of the Year Award from ForeWord Reviews
*2009: Image Award from Sociedad Geográfica Española
*Cherry Kearton
Richard Kearton FZS, FRPS (2 January 1862 – 8 February 1928) and Cherry Kearton (8 July 1871 – 27 September 1940), brothers, were a pair of British naturalists and some of the world's earliest wildlife photographers. They developed inno ...
Medal from the Royal Geographical Society of London for their "contribution to the photographic recording of African ethnography and ritual"
*2010: Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, Television presenter, broadcaster, and documentary filmmaker. He authored more than fifty non-fiction books, mostly travel narratives and popular biographies of ex ...
Award from The Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...
honoring men and women who have distinguished themselves in the field of exploration
*2010: Lifetime Achievement Award from WINGS WorldQuest honoring the accomplishments of visionary women
References
External links
African Ceremonies (official site)
WINGS WorldQuest Profile
FEELguide Profile and Photo Gallery
Anisfield-Wolf Winners Biography
Photokunst Gallery Profile
Interviews
Interview with Diane Rehm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckwith, Carol
1945 births
20th-century American explorers
Female explorers
Living people
Goucher College alumni
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni
Expatriate photographers in Sudan
20th-century American photographers
20th-century American women photographers