Wholistic Fitness

Photograph #2 – Inside photograph of the Tuareg family asleep

About the Photograph

Behind the Scenes A Tuareg Family Sleeps

The first print that I am offering is one of my most requested images. This picture was first published on the cover of the National Geographic Magazine for a story on climate change (Solving the Climate Puzzle, May 1998) and later on the cover of the book Women Photographers At National Geographic. In 2011 it was named one of the 50 best pictures of National Geographic. I am offering two similar images taken at the same time – one was the cover image and the other ran on the inside of the article.

Let me set the scene: The assignment is Global Climate Change for National Geographic Magazine. We learned that vast areas of the sub-Sahara were changing due to decades of drought. Over the past 40 years lakebeds have dried up, though in some places there is still a deep water base and water can be drawn from wells. To investigate people who were living in these areas I visited a clan of Tuareg living about 80 kilometers outside of Timbuktu, Mali. They are nomadic peoples, living for centuries around a huge lake system that provided water for themselves and their animals. As nomadic herders they moved their herds constantly around this huge lake system dotted with patches of green.

I spent five days with this family, traveling out to their camp in a 4-wheel drive vehicle with an interpreter from Timbuktu named Mohammad and a grizzled Tuareg tribesman also named Mohammad. I wasn’t really surprised that the head of the clan we visited was also named Mohammad. He was a teacher and spoke his tribal language Tamasheq, as well as fluent Arabic and French. We arrived with a live goat, a case of bottled water and case of canned chicken (just in case). The goat was much appreciated since meat had become scarce due to the droughts since the 1970’s. After greetings and drinking tea several men of the family built a fire in a sand pit. When the sand pit got scorching hot they buried the slaughtered goat to roast for a number of hours. Later as we ate some goat meat in the fading light, even my interpreter Mohammed, from Timbuktu, confessed that the meat was a bit sandy and we both ate a tin of chicken later. Over dinner we discussed the reason for my visit and it was agreed that I was free to photograph whatever I liked.

One day when the men went off on a hunting expedition nearby I stayed with the women back at camp. It was a sultry afternoon and as the family took a nap in their tent, I did too. After playing with Isha, their eight-month old baby and combing the youngest girl’s hair the mother, Waled, curled up for a nap and indicated I should do so as well. At some point I woke up and saw that everyone was asleep. Sand had sifted in underneath the tent covering the baby and the woven mat. I photographed the family asleep, using about a roll of film, framing each shot a little differently. The child on the right, a 12-year-old girl, shifted a bit, the mother moved her hand, but everyone stayed asleep. I napped off again too. I still have the two beaded bracelets that the twelve year-old girl pushed onto my arm as a gift.

Please pass this Teaching on to friends and colleagues you think might be interested in learning about the projects sponsored by Groundwork Opportunities and purchasing a print.

Thank you so much!
Joanna