This book is Winfried Bullinger's extensive photographic archive of vernacular architecture
from Eastern and Central Africa. A long-term project Bullinger has dedicated himself to since
2008 his portraits of African pastoralists' diverse homes—including tents open dwellings and
huts—preserve indigenous architectural traditions that have been largely overlooked in the
post-colonial era and are today threatened by changing ways of life. His images each made with
a large-format camera and the silver-gelatin technique are born from a dialogue with the
inhabitants and reveal architecture as a direct response refined over centuries to a people's
specific environment and culture. Despite their variety the structures are all made from
materials available directly on site: renouncing anything superficial they are radically
efficient and sustainable. Bullinger's vision has echoes of Bernd and Hilla Becher's systematic
approach to photographing architectural types yet his focus is solely on architecture as
dwelling. Although (with few exceptions) no inhabitants are to be seen in his images Bullinger
records their many traces his camera perspective is shaped by how they use and view their
homes and he rejects ideal lighting for the unpredictable changing light of day. The result is
a valuable record of rapidly disappearing African architectural heritage.
