EQUATORIAL GUINEA-MALABO-AFRICA, a rare place to go to, PHOTOGRAPHY & ART & VIDEO
Equatorial Guinea is one of the strangest places one could visit. It is somehow totally lost in time. In 2015 I was invited with a small group of artists to travel to Malabo and to create an art project in a beautiful hotel near the beach. We had really nice time, but I do want to share something about the country itself.
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Equatorial Guinea is the only sovereign African state in which Spanish is an official language. It used to be a Spanish colony. One still could find old architecture from that time.
Since the mid-1990s, Equatorial Guinea has become one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producers. It is the richest country per capita in Africa, but the folk is very poor. If we have to be honest it is a dictatorship. Equatorial Guinea has one of the worst human rights records on the continent. I think one could feel the fear and pain of the folk in the air. I had a similar feeling when I was in Caracas/ Venezuela in 2010 during the Hugo Chávez time.
The sky was all the time gloomy, but the water pleasant and the beach covered with seashells as if no people have ever been there.
Here a body painting & land-art project I made on the beach with local African girls. It was tricky to create something there since it was a rainy season. The lens of my camera was wet every few minutes.
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I collected the seashells on that same beach you see on the photos.
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Malabo (formerly Santa Isabel) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko. The country is located in west-central Africa, and consists of a mainland territory, Río Muni, which is bordered by Cameroon to the north and Gabon to the east and south, and five small islands.
The majority of the people of Equatorial Guinea are of Bantu origin. The largest ethnic group, the Fang, is indigenous to the mainland. The principal religion in Equatorial Guinea is Christianity.
On many markets, one can see the so called traditional pharmacies. From the west point a view these are witchcraft stores. They have substances and solutions for every problem, it does not matter if you are searching for love, need more money, or a better health. China is one of the best partners of Equatorial Guinea. In the which craft little booths they had roots, bones, but also nicely packed solutions for different goals in life, all produced in China with a photograph on the cover with Chinese people, but for African people, who believe in magic...simply crazy.
Photography is mostly forbidden. Travels are allowed only with an official invitation. The majority of the people are really poor but clean and kind. The most foreigners are builders from China. China has created a real modern slavery, which is expanded in multiple countries around the world. I don't want to speak about this topic, because it is really sad.
I hope one day the local people will be able to have a life with more freedom of speech and action, better education, and healthcare. Such trips remind me on one hand of my childhood and the communism in Bulgaria and on another hand how blessed we are in the west.
I hope you have enjoyed my post.
Love & Light
Bella
My art store
http://www.artgallery-vienna.com
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Nice and great photo.
Thanks for sharing the video with us.
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Your photo (shells) is showing that we are a part of nature. You solved the puzzle.
We totally are, I have a few other works named like that. I will share them soon.
I'm so glad We thinking the same way.
I will wait with patience to see Your artwork.
Amazing! Your body art photos are visionary. I could not believe my eyes when I found the woman camouflaged like a tree trunk there on the beach chair. :)
Thank you;), well this is nothing new, I have been doing body painting for 14 years, painting for 23 years, but the camouflage idea was first done by Veruschka in the 60-ies. I think the idea comes originally form the amazing painter Rene Magritte. He had a similar concept in his canvas painting. A body, which looks like the background. The mimicry is a skill many insects and animals such as the chameleon have. So at the end it is something, which comes again from nature.
Bodypainting is actually the oldest art form we have on our planet and it was great to be in Africa and create something on real African girls. It felt very tribal and real for me;)
What an enormously fun post! That first photo is so vibrant and rich, in color, composition, craftsmanship... Many feasts for the eyes, and surprises. Such a treat seeing your creativity in action in these photos. Quick question: Is that last picture from the same set? The reason why I ask is because it looks like one of those colossal "samauma" trees, from the Amazon. Am I right?
Hello;)), thank you for the wonderful, and beautiful comment. The big tree is from there. I did see very similar trees in the forests of Brasil, Venezuela, Australia, and Thailand.
Being somewhere in nature in Malabo was nice and possible to take some photos. In the city, people were freaking out if a camera was around and would scream at me if I have permission to take photos. In general it was the most spooky place I have ever visited.
Another gorgeous post @bella-volen-art. That body art is beautiful. I can't even begin to imagine how long that would have taken to make.
Thank you;), it is normally between 4-7 hours. The hard part is only when the model and the artist don't speak the same language-as in this case;).
The tree is humongous :) beautiful post
Oh, such an incredible art and the story! I have seen a lot of body paintings but this one are just so unique. It is indeed showing a connection to the nature and the beauty of women - two topics I admire. Thank you so much @bella-volen-art for sharing these treasures with us. Much light and love to you too.
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