A Vanished World

the long version

"Wilfred Thesinger's portraits of tribal peoples have earned him worldwide recognition as a photographer. Using a box camera which had belonged to his father, he began his photographic career in 1930, at the age of twenty, during a short hunting trip in Ethiopia, and used the same camera to photograph hostile Danakil tribesmen when he returned three years later to explore the Awash river." "While in the Sudan, and now equipped with a Leica 35mm camera, Thesiger portrayed Muslim tribes in Northern Darfur, pagan Nuer in the Western Nile swamps and magnificent Nuba wrestlers. Among Ethiopia's Danakil he had travelled as a European accompanied by servants, but here he lived in increasingly equal terms with his followers. His photography mirrors this changed attitude - rather than simply recording people, places and events, he began to select and compose his subjects more carefully." "These portraits of Thesinger's were all taken under exceptional conditions, often in particularly hosile environments. Together the provide a pictorial record of diverse cultures and vanished worlds."--Jacket.