Makasutu - Mecca in the Forest
Between 1997 and 2010 I returned annually to 'Makasutu', a sacred forest in the West African Republic of The Gambia, to make portraits of the people who live and work, in and around the forest. According to local 'griots', 'Makasutu' gained its name when the Islamic wave swept through the Sahara in the 12th Century and Gambian converts used the area as a prayer ground before mosques were erected; hence the name, translated from the local Mandinka language 'Maka' - Mecca and 'sutu' - in the forest. Since then it has been deemed holy ground, protected in the past by local kings and marabouts (Islamic shaman), and now under the auspices of a conservation group, Makasutu Wildlife Trust set up by my old friend, Lawrence Williams, and his business partner, James English; but many locals still believe the forest is really protected by 'jinns' and a giant spectral serpent, known as a 'ninkinanko'. With many aspects of life in The Gambian, ancient animist traditions and beliefs weave easily with their adopted Islamic faith.
Makasutu was second home, a place to return to with no deadlines, where I could work slowly and quietly with my 8x10 Deardorff and Pentax 6x7 film cameras. It was my entry point into Africa and I am still in regular contact with some of the people I photographed, although a number have passed on. Abdou Ndong, pictured twice (1997) in his fishing hat and (2008) with a rescued crocodile, joined us on a source-to-sea 1044km expedition of River Gambia in 2012/13 as our river guide. The portraits for me are a preservation of the diminishing pastoral and village life in The Gambia, and an echo of our own pasts; that of a simpler, more community-based, family-orientated and less mechanised existence