Greatlands

This iconic body of photographic work transcends what is ordinarily perceived as beautiful, perfect or picturesque in landscape photography. Matthew Willman has created a masterpiece for the ages, presenting a deeply moving depiction of Southern Africa as it really is. The great lands here are ancient and hold memory from times long forgotten. They are scorched by the sun and weathered by the wind and rain. Over three consecutive years, Willman travelled across eight countries in Southern Africa covering 32 000 kilometres (20 000 miles) to masterfully capture on analogue film devastatingly beautiful landscapes. There is something else that whispers through these images. There echoes in each frame a memory, a painfully beautiful testimony to the pioneers who forged paths upon these roughshod lands. Men and women who made these frontiers their home and produced life across this sleeping Eden of Southern Africa. All photographs were captured using 35mm Canon A1 cameras (50mm prime lenses) and on 6x7 120 roll film on a Mamiya RB67 camera (127mm & 250mm lenses). All images were hand processed, then hand printed in the darkroom by Matthew Willman. The Greatlands collection was inspired by Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef’s monumental Southern African landscape artworks and South African author, Alan Paton.