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 a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

'', '' Natural History'', ''

African Arts African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, su ...

'', ''

The Observer Magazine ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to '' The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'', ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' and ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

''. 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 fo ...

in New York City, The Smithsonian Institution 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 The Cherry Kearton Medal and Award is an honour bestowed by the Royal Geographical Society on "a traveller concerned with the study or practice of natural history, with a preference for those with an interest in nature photography, art or cinemato ...

, 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 Cl ...

, The Explorers Club's

Lowell Thomas Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescree ...

Award, and the WINGS WorldQuest Lifetime Achievement Award.African Ceremonies
(official site)

Biography

Early life

Carol Beckwith was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, 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 the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...

and

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. 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 ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

temple and studying calligraphic painting. She continued to travel through Southeast Asia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

, where she witnessed a "

sing-sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

", a gathering of 90,000 Highland warriors, in

Mount Hagen Mount Hagen ( tpi, Maun Hagen) is the third largest city in Papua New Guinea, with a population of 46,250. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, ...

, 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 and Ramu rivers in vast area of . During the northwest monsoon season, from ...

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 ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Beckwith bought a 45-day roundtrip ticket and ended up staying eight months. There she encountered the

Maasai people The Maasai (; sw, Wamasai) are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best-known local populations internationally due to their residence near the many game parks of t ...

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 ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

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 person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

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 ( ff, Woɗaaɓe, Adlam: ), also known as the Mbororo or Bororo (Adlam: , ), or Pullo, have a name that is designated to those of the Fula ethnic group who are traditionally nomadic and considered to be "ignorant of Islam." For this ...

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, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

, 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 writer who promotes pseudoscientific theories involving ancient civilizations and lost lands. Hancock speculates that an advanced ice age civilization was destroyed in a cataclysm, but t ...

). 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 (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, ...

. * 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.

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 Zoological Society of London, FZS, Royal Photographic Society, 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 worl ...

Medal from the

Royal Geographical Society of London 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 scie ...

for their "contribution to the photographic recording of African ethnography and ritual” *2010:

Award from

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 American photographers American explorers Female explorers American women photographers Living people Goucher College alumni School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni Expatriate photographers in Sudan 21st-century American women