inTERTAINMENT: Words by Leila BlochPhotos by Stu Shapiro

For four days in April 2012 the sleepy town of Tankwa, in the Karoo, became the creative capital of South Africa, as it played host to around 5000 visitors at AfrikaBurn. This festival is the spectacular result of the creative expression of the participants, who gather once a year in Tankwa, to create a temporary city of art, theme camps, costumes, music and performance. And there to capture the many faces that populated an otherwise arid desert was photographer Stu Shapiro, with his new mobile photo studio.

through the lens

AfrikaBurnFestival

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The festival has been going for four years in South Africa and is an off shoot of the Burning Man creative arts festival that started in 1986 in the Nevada Desert, USA, when a 20-foot man sculpture was burnt at dusk by a handful of people on a beach in San Francisco.

Those that attend the festival are known as 'burners', and they decide on the level of their involvement; either as participants or actively involved in the development of sculptures, themed camps, activities and gatherings. The rules are simple! Bring what you need, leave no trace, no exchange of money and only gifting and bartering to create an inspiring vision.

Beneath a cloudy sky, chiselled men balanced bicycles off their shoulders, masked workers blew gas onto wheels and a lonesome man spent 48 hours securing rhino sculptures down. Out of nowhere a purple-bear suit emerged with pink sunglasses. AfrikaBurn was a counterpoint of colour and culture; a Mardi Gras celebration. It was dancing girls, Chinese dresses and dancing hats. It was Alice in Wonderland. It was a trip through the door of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, with the characters from the Wizard of Oz replicated all over the endless dusty road.

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The people who came really wanted to be there and it was clear that there was much thought behind the food they gave, their openness and general lack of hostility towards others. And as they weaved their way through the incredible art installations, smoke could be seen rising up continuously from the fires that surrounded the festival. One was never short of entertainment: a desert theatre meant that anyone could get up and play live music and relentless trance music with wafts of old eighties tunes were heard until the early morning.

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Stu definitely stood out amongst all the avid photographers, with many curious people stopping to ask how the two winged, heavy machine was created. Built by Stu in 2012, the 'MadMax Walking Studio' is based on a concept developed by Alex Sokolsky, and with help and further technical refinement from Orms and Photo-hire in Cape Town the portable studio came to life. The rig incorporates a form of technical photography never done in South Africa before, giving the images a specific look without the need of post production or Photoshop. Says Stu, "Providing something unique, which also accurately captured the festival, was an interesting challenging. I didn't need to adjust much in the post production stage and all the images are exactly as I shot them, bar a few occasions where I tweaked the level of saturation. Preparation for the burn was done beforehand to make sure quick lighting switches could be done. But ultimately, it was one shot, per person."

The creators and spectators watched as their hard work and efforts went up in flames. The culmination of the festival was the burning of twenty-foot sculptures. Partly Buddhist, partly cathartic and most definitely celebratory. Thanks to Stu and his walking studio, the passing chaos and beauty of this festival has been recorded with accuracy, thus preserving many AfrikaBurn memoriesin desert-chic style. •