An ethnologist takes pictures of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa

Ethnologist, psychologist and sociologist, Viviana Vammalle has taken photographs of peoples of sub-Saharan Africa for twelve years. She edits today a book of her personal experiences of rare sensibility and subtlety, published by Ana Maria de La Bruyère, who had launched the Vogue magazine in Spain.

The author decided once to meet peoples of Africa, who have kept a deep connection with nature because they live in remote regions: how do they live, what does their daily life look like, between the traditions of the past and a future under the inevitable influence of the urban way of life. Once she set foot in Africa, she felt attracted by the continent: she did not want to take photographs of the peoples from the outside, but was wishing to learn to know them.

She was travelling solely accompanied by a guide and a driver and was setting up her tent at a short distance from the village, sufficiently close to draw attention and sufficiently far to prevent discomfort: children came at first. Back home, they were talking with their parents. Then the mothers came to meet with her. After some time, she got involved in collaborative tasks with them.

A picture is the reflection of the harmony between a photographer and a model: to catch intimate expressions with goodness is a golden rule, nobody posed for a picture, every image shows a woman, a man or a child who has accepted to be photographed with confidence. When she discovered it, HRH Queen Diambi Kabatusuila of the Democratic Republic of Congo accepted to be the patron of the book. A part of the profit will be donated to the Œuvre Bienheureuse Luigi Guanella(*) who manages seven orphanages for street children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Forever Africa", Viviana Vammale, Editions Ana Maria de La Bruyère >>

Sunday 7 November 2021, 15:47