The Healing Ceremony

‘The Healing Ceremony’ is photographed in the Caprivi strip in north Namibia. Herbalism, Divination and Spiritualism often combined in traditional African medicine, is one of the oldest and most varied therapeutic systems in the world. What fascinates Tanya Davidow about the subject is the holistic approach of African traditional healing, where no real separation exists between the spirit world and the realm of matter. Wherever matter occurs, Spirit can be found, and vice versa. Africans don’t view spirituality as a part of life. To them, all life is spiritual. All aspects of reality (both the seen and unseen world) work together.

Tanya Davidow is a Namibian born documentary and portrait photographer based in Cologne. Her work focuses on telling stories by understanding people’s reality through inquisitiveness and well intended interest. Throughout her travels and life in Europe she has managed to capture engaging portraits, which feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. What intrigues her most as a photographer is that a great picture needs no explanation; no description; they speak for themselves. She uses the camera as a bridge, connecting the visible actuality with the invisible reality.

www.tanyadavidowphotography.com