The ‘Weekly Blog’ photo

I’ve been asked by a number of people about the photograph on the WWW homepage which is used as the portal to our blog posts. It was taken in July 2014 at the top of Buffels Kop, a mountain in the Eastern Cape outside of Cradock, at the top of which is Olive Schreiner’s stone sarcophagus. What a place it is – the view is utterly stupendous and goes for miles on clear days, it’s totally isolated and there’s not a sound but of insects, birds and at dawn and dusk the calls of baboons. It’s been used in an emblematic way, for it stands for the importance of place in understanding the dynamics of social life in South Africa past and present. It also stands for the limitations of representational media – it is a good photograph, but it really doesn’t convey the feel of the air, the play of light, shifts of sun and cloud, the feel of the stone of the sarcophagus under the hand, laboured breath from the stiff climb, and a strong sense of awe at the stark beauty of this very special place.

Last updated: 4 April 2015