Tent People: Portraits from AfrikaBurn 2022 & 2023

AfrikaBurn is an annual festival - related to the more famous Burning Man - that happens in the Tankwa Karoo of South Africa. Tents and people conglomerate in this desert for 10 days in late April to form the temporary place known as “Tankwa Town.” Tent structures of various shapes and sizes weather the wind and dust and provide the only form of shade and shelter in an other otherwise barren landscape. They also provide an excellent opportunity for me as a photographer, to capture portraits against a simple backdrop. Without the distractions of festival clutter I hope these portraits reveal something of the real individuals who attend - for a moment dropping the "masks" required by the parades and parties that define this event. These series of portraits were shot at two consecutive festivals 2022 & 2023 and comprise five black & white film images and five digital colour images and have not been edited or adjusted except to resize the image.