Passages

This powerful exhibit of African tribal ceremonies reflects 30 years of commitment to preserving the endangered cultures and peoples of 90 tribes across Africa. Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher pay homage to the rituals that mark every important occasion in tribal life — birth, initiation, courtship, marriage, royal coronations, seasonal rituals, healing exorcisms, and death. These images are the result of a long, enduring and deeply respectful relationship with tribal peoples. This, combined with Beckwith and Fisher’s extraordinary photographic skills, creates an intimate portrayal of ceremonies long held secret that might have never been recorded. It is an exhibit that both preserves and presents the power, complexity and celebration found within the rituals of African tribal life. The exhibition was curated by the Brooklyn Museum and is available for travel through 2022.

Beckwith and Fisher’s award-winning publications include the definitive 2-volume reference African Ceremonies, and Passages, the soft-cover accompaniment to this exhibition.

Critically acclaimed by the New York Times (“a visual feast”), Time Magazine (“a magnificent documenting of the continent’s rapidly vanishing kaleidoscope of tribal rights”) and The Wall Street Journal (“…these two women have gone further and deeper into tribal Africa than any photographers have gone before”).