Margaret Courtney-Clarke: Geographies of Drought

The exhibition "Geographies of Drought" by photographer Margaret Courtney-Clarke, born in 1949, based on long-term documentation. In clear, sometimes surreal and often poignant images, she portrays the extreme drought in her home country of Namibia and its social and political consequences.It is a portrait of a country where the existential threat of water scarcity affects people's lives and daily routines in many ways. Namibia is one of the driest regions in the world, and the global climate crisis is exacerbating the situation. Permanent water shortages are one of the reasons why Namibia, despite its wealth of natural and mineral resources, is characterized by great social inequality.

Large sections of the population are multidimensional poor. Filled with empathy and respect, Courtney-Clarke focuses on the resourcefulness and resilience with which women in Namibia and Africa in general manage their daily lives.

The exhibition will be shown for the first time at ZEPYHR - Raum für Fotografie. It is the winning entry of the Open Call "Namibia - A Photographic View", launched by the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen together with the Department of Culture and Tourism of the City of Windhoek as part of their Project Partnership 2024.