Africa is a place that captivates the mind, she is old and tells her tales in mysterious ways, we only have to sit quietly and listen to the stories that flow from her. My late father Colonel Ted Maberly’s stories of East Africa as a child thrilled me and inspired by all my late Uncle Charles AstleyMaberly’s work on wildlife, set a path for me to follow later in life.
Africa is perhaps best described in pictures, as I know of no way to really portray her beauty in words, which is why I have turned to painting and photography to try some way of conveying this beauty across to all.
This journey certainly hasn’t been a search for answers, this has been more about learning to listen to the wild.
It has been my privilege on this trek to have been able to share time with many knowledgeable and tough women and men who have thrown their lives into conserving the world’s greatest wilderness, from men who have worked for me as trackers and accompanied me everywhere, to people who have lived their lives with the wild as their main focus. From these encounters with these special people and from my own experiences, I have tried to encapsulate all of this into painting and sketches, my intention has been to make us pause for just a moment, take a look, and listen to our souls, for if ever there was a time to listen to the purest part of us, it’s now. The pressures and the endless indecision of the politicos, media, and social media have pulled us away from our real purpose. We as a species have been blessed with the power of thought and some form of intelligence if used correctly.
The advent of digital photography has offered us the opportunity to capture some truly magnificent scenes but as every photographer knows it is through the shooting hundreds of frames that one might get a single image that effectively conveys the story the artist sought to share. Painting offers an entirely different means to tell the tale. One where the artist himself is equally immersed within the scene with the content of the imagery. The act of painting is in a way a replication of what one experiences in the wild where you become not only an observer but a participant.
My preferred medium is oil, I love working with it, although I have often worked in Pastel and ink. There is nothing like being able to create a piece of art that captures even just one person’s imagination or transports them back to a place and a time. As an artist, it is a delight to see this effect on, someone. The need to paint and recreate comes from deep within me, it’s a compelling urge to make others aware of the awe-inspiring wildland and all it's beauty.
Life is in fact just a painting formed by the various experiences we live through, like the various brush strokes and colours in a painting, we are perhaps the artist of our own lives?
Nature tends to evoke a deeper purer thought process within us and the legends and myths of the wild swirl through the generation's imagination, weaving a tapestry of Africa that fits snugly over the shoulders of those who stop to contemplate. Now more than ever it is our duty to conserve or soon there will be nothing left, as we will have given it all away, destroyed it and unwittingly lost the part of our world where the very core of our existence is preserved. Stop and listen, take in that blend of heat, dust aromas and the sound of the wind gently soothing the aged branches of the trees. Come on a visual safari with us, one that will captivate you enough to inspire your own participation in the preservation of these wild places for our children and the generations to come.
The pages that follow contain a series of paintings and sketches of places hardly visited by anyone, others prominent in the memories of many who have had the privilege of exploring the Zimbabwean bush. The paintings are the translation of the images in my mind that will hopefully engage you in such a way that it will ignite a passion in you to come and immerse yourself in these soul-replenishing surroundings and feel the atmosphere that only exists in Africa. Each Picture has a story to tell, each is a snapshot of life as I have seen it.
Often Painting the captivating scenes of sunset, the question is presented, what will happen when the sun sets on us? Will we have left a legacy we can stand up and be counted for? and will our children’s children be able to stand proud knowing that we have protected that which is so fundamental to the human experience?
– Will Maberly