I recently spent time with the Hadzabe tribe in Northern Tanzania where I stayed with a group of families in a boma. This young girl quickly became a favourite of mine. From a distance she appeared Dickens-esque with something smeared around her mouth. Then I realised it was the only clean part of her face, with only her eyes popping out from the dust and dirt. While she couldn’t read or write - none of the Hadzabe can - she loved drawing animals with me. Looking back at the image it shows a child in wonder at the world, her pride tempered by wariness, and an inner strength belying her age.
Guy Needham’s inquisitive worldview was shaped by growing up in rural New Zealand in the 1970s. Today he is noted for his work with indigenous tribes, primarily drawing on themes of identity and place within cultural narratives. His work is a hybrid of photographic genres, sitting somewhere between documentary and portraiture fine art. The simplicity of his pared-down style often belies a nuanced observation and complexity of subjects. Described as having both a quiet intensity and a subtle momentum, his work is a choreography of light and composition, stillness and movement.
