kbtphotography.ca/blog

The Last Children of the Kalahari is an emotionally charged, undeniable look into the depths of humanity through journalistic-portraits of the children of the Kalahari Bushmen.

In January 2008, I traveled to photograph the Kalahari Bushmen of Botswana and Namibia. I visited remote villages and settlements to investigate their situation as it is today.

For 80,000 years the Kalahari Bushmen have lived within a fully functioning, environmentally sustainable, egalitarian society – thriving in an area with possibly the harshest conditions on the planet – the expansive Kalahari Desert.

Their extensive knowledge of survival and sustainable use of their local resources hold relevant lessons for the modern world, but remain threatened by progress and development. Bushmen children of today will face generations of extreme change.

The children in this portrait series were born into this ancient culture and began their lives under traditional methods of hunting and gathering. In the span of their lifetime, they will watch their culture vanish as communities are forced from traditional homelands and adopt a completely foreign modern-world.

There is much to learn from this ancient culture before it disappears forever.

Katherine B. Topolniski
2008