Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Charles Hill
Blessed be the homeland of my mother =)
Charles Hill is a tiny village located in the Ghanzi District of Botswana. It is located close to the Namibian border in the sparsely populated west of the country. The Kalahari Desert is a large and arid area which is the ancestral land of the Bushmen, the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa. They live a simple life of hunting and gathering some with small plots to farm; both displaced by modernity or untouched by it. Xanagas is the name of the farming area just outside of Charles Hill. It is home to the farm which my grandmother and our family lived on. I feel it must be said that this folder is deeply personal to me. It portrays current day scenes of a place hardly touched by time, where memories of my mother and our family have lived since I can remember. The place is immensely special to me and I feel I have by no means done it justice for I will never be able to truly capture its essence. The following part of my reflection is an extract taken from my notebook which I took along. We left Gaborone early on the morning of the 27th of December 2010 and returned two days later on the 29th of December. It will be followed by a technical reflection on the photographs themselves.
Morning “I feel so nostalgic for this place even though I’m finally here. I’ve wanted to come for a while. Life is hard yet easy, big yet small. I want to be eaten by the sky to escape the heat; I want to sit outside and listen to the wind chimes and escape the terrible singing inside. Blue walls, concrete floors. It is bright. There is sand EVERYWHERE. “
Later that day “We went to the farm today. I love that place. It feels so far away from everything I hate. Not many demons can reach me there. The peace is solid, the sky is enormous, the sand is hot, water is beautiful, moretlwa grows juicy in the bush. Little brown babies on burnt backs with big eyes. The smell of cow dung and dust in the nostrils. Clicks spill from bushman tongues. I think it’s doing my mum good being here. We passed by Ouma’s grave. She’s buried in an amazing simple place. I would love to be ain to rest there, watching God’s hand paint the sky every day.”
I chose to desaturate the photographs in this folder because I felt it helps to enhance the texture and detail of the scenes. There are extremely bright areas in the photographs which give a glimpse of the soaring heat and blinding light of the day. I find it impossible to claim to have an objective opinion on these photographs but will have to succumb instead to nostalgia and sentimentality.
A view of the A2, the Central Kalahari road which runs from Gaborone to Kanye, to Jwaneng and then Kang, Ghanzi and Charles Hill before reaching Mamuno and the Namibian boarder, taken on the 27th December 2010, Botswana. “Simplicity is making the journey of this life wth just baggage enough.”- Charles Dudley Warner. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Benjamin Van Zyl unwinds over a cup of tea after the day long drive from Gaborone, taken in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana. “Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realise there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”- Lao Tzu. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Lana Magdeline Mokgosi prepares everything for dinner on the first night of our arrival in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana. “Do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.”- Robert Louis Stevenson. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Diana Van Zyl feeds her daughter Alicia in the afternoon, following the patlo (traditional wedding preparation meeting between two families) of that morning. Taken at the receiving family’s house in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana on 28th December 2010. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Henry Van Zyl entertains his grandson Angelo with a sweet, outside his house in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana on 28th December 2010. His eldest daughter and mother of his grandson, Alma, is soon to be married. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Georgina Van Zyl sits for a portrait on the afternoon of December 28th 2010, in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana. “When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”- Lao Tzu. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Kennedy Van Zyl sits for a portrait on the afternoon of December 28th 2010, in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana. “Simplicity in character, in manners, in style; in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.”- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Susara Van Zyl sits for a portrait on the afternoon of December 28th 2010, in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana. The family of her older sister’s boyfriend has come to Charles Hill for patlo, a traditional ceremony where the two families of the individuals intending to wed meet to discuss terms and concerns regarding the proposal of marriage. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Henry Van Zyl sits for a portrait on the afternoon of December 28th 2010, in Charles Hill, Ghanzi, Botswana. “I have always observed that to succeed in the world a person must seem simple, yet wise.”- Charles De Montesquieu. ©Neo Mokgosi 2011
Charles Hill is a tiny village located in the Ghanzi District of Botswana. It is located close to the Namibian border in the sparsely populated west of the country. The Kalahari Desert is a large and arid area which is the ancestral land of the Bushmen, the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa. They live a simple life of hunting and gathering some with small plots to farm; both displaced by modernity or untouched by it. Xanagas is the name of the farming area just outside of Charles Hill. It is home to the farm which my grandmother and our family lived on. I feel it must be said that this folder is deeply personal to me. It portrays current day scenes of a place hardly touched by time, where memories of my mother and our family have lived since I can remember. The place is immensely special to me and I feel I have by no means done it justice for I will never be able to truly capture its essence. The following part of my reflection is an extract taken from my notebook which I took along. We left Gaborone early on the morning of the 27th of December 2010 and returned two days later on the 29th of December. It will be followed by a technical reflection on the photographs themselves.
Morning “I feel so nostalgic for this place even though I’m finally here. I’ve wanted to come for a while. Life is hard yet easy, big yet small. I want to be eaten by the sky to escape the heat; I want to sit outside and listen to the wind chimes and escape the terrible singing inside. Blue walls, concrete floors. It is bright. There is sand EVERYWHERE. “
Later that day “We went to the farm today. I love that place. It feels so far away from everything I hate. Not many demons can reach me there. The peace is solid, the sky is enormous, the sand is hot, water is beautiful, moretlwa grows juicy in the bush. Little brown babies on burnt backs with big eyes. The smell of cow dung and dust in the nostrils. Clicks spill from bushman tongues. I think it’s doing my mum good being here. We passed by Ouma’s grave. She’s buried in an amazing simple place. I would love to be ain to rest there, watching God’s hand paint the sky every day.”
I chose to desaturate the photographs in this folder because I felt it helps to enhance the texture and detail of the scenes. There are extremely bright areas in the photographs which give a glimpse of the soaring heat and blinding light of the day. I find it impossible to claim to have an objective opinion on these photographs but will have to succumb instead to nostalgia and sentimentality.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The Right Night To Light Write
Blessed
More fun in the dark! This was taken on Kasouga Beach, Eastern Cape
More fun in the dark! This was taken on Kasouga Beach, Eastern Cape
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