Tankwa Town
by Frédéric Dorizon is the second volume in the Chronicles:
Small Appointments of a Great Journey published
by The Unknown Books. The zine features photos taken at AfrikaBurn, a
Burning Man festival that takes place in the Karoo desert in South
Africa. Thousands meet in the wilderness of the Northern Cape
Province to create a magical town of art and music.
The images show the
atmosphere and energy of this short lived community, where currency
is invalid and all goods must be bartered for. Large blurry crowds
dance around a bonfire. Bizarre vehicles, that wouldn’t look out of
place on the set of a Mad Max film, litter the landscape. One four by
four is covered by layers of metal sheets which makes it appear as an
armoured armadillo on wheels. In another shot, a motorcycle is
engulfed by the body of a metal swan with the wheels only just
visible poking out of the base.
Other photographs
show the vastness of the landscape that hosts the festival. One image
in particular really emphasises this. Five pillars stand in the
distance of a barren desert. A mist lingers and a bright blue sky
hovers above them. The pillars appear as if they are fingers of an
ancient buried civilisation poking through the sand. The environment
emphasises the mystical atmosphere of the event and shows the
remoteness of the location. The vast natural setting stands in stark
contrast to the city setting we find ourselves in in our regular
lives. It sums up the surreality of the event and it’s existence
outside of normality.
The zine is a
lovely peek into an almost otherworldly event and the atmosphere that
surrounds it. You can pick up your own copy through The Unknown Books
here.
Get in touch at info@bluemondaypress.com if you’d like us to review your zine.
“Tankwa Town is lost in the Karoo desert, Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Each year for a few days several thousands of people meet there for the AfrikaBurn participant-created movement. Tankwa is the Afrikaburn’s temporary and magic town of art, theme camps, costumes, music, performances and burns.
As the founders explain it : for those that have been, no explanation is necessary, for those that haven’t, none is possible except by joining the Afrikaburn experience.
Welcome to Tankwa Town.”
Tankwa Town, of my friend Frederic Dorizon, is one of the most beautiful zines I had the pleasure of publishing. It is somehow gratifying for me to see works published by me with so much quality.
I want to thank Fred, the opportunity for us to work together on this.
