Margaret Courtney-Clarke
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Work
  1. When Tears Don’t Matter
  2. Cry Sadness into the Coming Rain
  3. Noah’s Ark in a Sandstorm - Part I
  4. Noah’s Ark in a Sandstorm - Part II
  5. Dog Days
  6. Prix Pictet
  7. Ndebele
  8. African Canvas
  9. Imazighen
  10. South Africa 1969-1983
  11. South West Africa (Namibia) 1978-1983
  12. Maya Angelou
  13. La Ciociaria
  14. Portraits
  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou in her home, surrounded by portraits of her mother, Vivian Baxter (top right); her grandmother Annie Henderson (top left) and her great grandmother Kentucky Shannon. Winston-Salem, N.C., USA. 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou getting with the groove on the deck of the Seabourn Pride cruise ship to celebrate her 70th birthday. Organised by Oprah Winfrey the cruise lasted 7 days, each day marking a decade of Maya’s life. 1998
    (Below) Maya on “Calypso Night” -- referring to her history as a performer/dancer in the 50s

  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou jams with pianist/songwriter Valerie Simpson. New York City, N.Y. 2000

  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou on stage, reaching out, embracing, affirming spirits, laughing her way into the hearts of her audience … in red shoes, her favourite colour. At sea. 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    Left: Maya Angelou attends Easter Church service in Florida on the occasion of her 80th birthday
    Right: Maya dons her Easter hat. The competition for best hat was always a matter of great rivalry. On deck, Seabourn Pride, 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes
    Maya Angelou at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C., 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    The Poetry of Living
    Maya Angelou celebrates her 70th birthday in London, U.K., 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    It’s in the Reach of My Arms
    On board ship for her 70th birthday cruise to the Bahamas, 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou on stage for a poetry reading. Whether performing professionally or prompted by intimate conversations at home, Maya would slip into poetry or, as she herself called it, poesia, then into prose … words would miraculously transform into music, and the music into life. New York City, 1987

  • Maya Angelou

    Feet and Arms and Hips
    Moving and grooving with the music, Maya liberates her audience. Fearless. 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou enjoys a birthday bash amongst friends in North Carolina, USA, 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    A Song Flung up to Heaven
    Maya loves to rejoice at any moment. Winston-Salem, N.C., c.1998

  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou in her beloved garden/refuge -- her place of meditation -- Winston-Salem, N.C., 1980s

  • Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou walks tall on her way to a celebration for her 70th birthday. Key West, Florida. April 4, 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    Solitaire
    Maya Angelou’s favourite yellow legal pads on which all her ideas find their first form. Always nearby is a Bible, a dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, her favourite sherry and a deck of cards for solitaire. Winston-Salem, NC, 2000

  • Maya Angelou

    Sisterhood
    L to R: Mrs Coretta Scott King, social activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr; Maya Angelou; Dr Eleanor Traylor, Professor of English, Howard University, Washington D.C., 1998

  • Maya Angelou

    Partial view of exhibition installation at SMAC Gallery, Cape Town.

  • Maya Angelou

    Partial view of exhibition installation at SMAC Gallery, Cape Town.

  • Maya Angelou

    Partial view of exhibition installation at SMAC Gallery, Cape Town.

  • Maya Angelou

    Installation detail of wall with quotes by Maya Angelou

  • Maya Angelou

    Installation detail of Maya Angelou books and memorabilia

  • Maya Angelou

    Detail of autographed books to photographer Courtney-Clarke

  • Maya Angelou

    Installation detail of news articles and memorabilia

Maya Angelou

It was early 1987, and I found myself with my camera in Northeastern Nigeria in a village whose name I have chosen to forget. I was traveling alone. Airports and roads had been closed as the dry West African wind was blowing—the one they call the Harmattan. My room was essential: bed, table, chair. There was no electricity. The only small window had no glass pane. By night, mosquitos feasted on me. Malaria and dysentery were playing havoc with my body, and self pity was controlling my mind. By day I sat on the side of the road waiting for a vehicle, a truck, mulecart, camel, whatever, to transport me and my cameras somewhere-anywhere-else.


But I had one consolation. With my few personal belongings I had carried with me five paperback books: the autobiographical writings of a woman named Maya Angelou. I considered them part and parcel of my survival baggage. When I needed it most, these writings would offer me courage first of all, and then wisdom and humor, strength and dreams, passion and endurance, poetry and ideas...


Through my photographs of the magnificent art of Africa's women, I later came to meet Maya Angelou. It was to be the first of many visits... that finally culminated in a book Maya Angelou: The Poetry of Living. Forward by Oprah Winfrey (Clarkson Potter, New York, 1999)


Margaret Courtney-Clarke, 1998