Christoph Rippe’s MA Thesis ‘New Light on Old Images: Historical Photographs from the Mariannhill Mission in KwaZulu-Natal, Then and Now’
Christoph Rippe received the ‘Speckmann-Award 2008′ for having delivered the best MA Thesis in Anthropology at the University of Leiden. In October 2007 Rippe graduated with a report on his research conducted at the National Museum of Ethnology (Leiden) and on location at the Mission station Mariannhill in South-Africa. Rippe became fascinated with a late 19th century collection of photographs made by Catholic missionaries in KwaZulu-Natal. By ‘repatriating’ the photographs to the original site of production (and the missionary station is still active, which makes it even more challenging) he tries to reconnect the collection of images to the descendants of the subjects of the images. In this manner the photographic heritage is acknowledged as one that needs to be shared in order to regain its cross-cultural origins and two-sided history. As Rip
pe states in the Leiden University Weekly ‘Mare’ (article in Dutch): “I try to figure out how a collaborative approach can lead to a satisfying status of these photographs. Images are a powerful medium. They are perceived much more intuitively than words. Before I repatriated them the photographs existed only in archives. I am trying to provide them with a context now. What are the opinions on these photographs then and now and how is history being made through the use of these images?”
‘Taking a photographic image.’ (Orig. caption: ‘2. Eine photographische Aufnahme.’) Museum Volkenkunde Leiden (TMS A15-118.) Photographer Fr. Isembard Leyendecker is switching roles with one of his photographic subjects.
