Exhibiton :: The Hereros by Sérgio Guerra

During our trip to Tuscany, Italy with my wife, we cannot miss visiting Florence. Besides the must do things in Florence we visited one really good and free photo exhibition in the center of Florence named “The Hereros” by Sérgio Guerra, a Brazilian photographer.

The Hereros are part of a Bantu line of herdsmen who live across Namibia, Angola, and Botswana. In the 15th century they arrived in the area of current day Angola and settled in the provinces of Cunene and Namibe in the Southwest of the country, which is an almost deserted area with natural pastures and scarce rains.

The exhibition comprises more than 60 large-format pictures, accompanied by a set designing full of clothing, adornments, and traditional and rural objects used by this ethnic group, which offers a wide register of their way of life and traditions.

The Hereros cultural life resolves around the cattle and the environment. During the first half of the 20th century, the Hereros were persecuted in Angola by colonial authorities, who forced them to shift from pasturing and nomadism to agriculture and a sedentary life. But they overcame the persecution and the exile recovering their ancestral traditions. In Namibia they suffered slavery and resisted to the German rule, what made them victims of one of the largest genocides in history.

Sérgio Guerra is owner of the most comprehensive collection of images of Angolan culture and Hereros, the oldest ethnic group in African continent.

Sérgio Guerra, a Brazilian photographer, advertising professional, and cultural producer, was born in Recife, lived in São Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro, then settled in The State of Bahia in the decade of 1980. From 1998 on, lives among Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and Luanda, where he has developed communication projects for Angolan federal administration. In his constant trips across Angola, he has witnessed crucial moments in the struggle for peace and reconstruction, thus building one of the most extensive photographic registers even made of the 18 Angolan provinces.

За време на моето патување низ Тоскана, Италија заедно со мојата сопруга не можевме да испуштиме да ја посетиме Фиренца. Покрај работи кои мора да ги посетиш додека си во Фиренца посетивме и една многу добра и бесплатна фото изложба во самиот центар на Фиренца. Изложбата е на бразилскиот фотограф Sérgio Guerra и е насловена “Херерос”.

Херерос се дел од банту линијата на сточари кои што живеат во Ангола, Намибија и Боцвана. Изложбата се состоеше од 60 фотографии во голем формат придружени со облека, објекти и алати на оваа етничка група што нуди дополнително искуство во приемот на начинот на живот и традициите на оваа група на луѓе.

Sérgio Guerra е бразилски фотограф роден во Рекифе а живеал во Сан Пауло и Рио де Женеиро.