'Sitting in the Mud,' an ode to curiosity and connection
Show features “stunning” formal portraits, ephemera from year in East Africa
May 12, 2026
By Marilyn Eckberg
A young Hadzabe hunter with his catch of the morning—a Guinea fowl—near Lake Eyasi, Tanzania. Photo courtesy of Robin Bowman.
BLUE HILL—entering Robin Bowman's 'Sitting in the Mud' exhibition at the Blue Hill Library. This vibrant photomontage of images and ephemera convey a sense of what it must have been like for Robin to land on the African continent. It takes gumption to travel solo as a "mzungu," (Swahili for white person), even if you had worked internationally as a photojournalist for major publications as Robin had.
This show, reprising a 2019 show at Wheaton College, presents a visual diary from 2017. Loaded down with digital cameras and equipment, and motivated by curiosity, she thrived on the year-long adventure exploring and photographing people, places and animals of Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Stand out images include a Rwandan woman wearing saturated reds, shelling a mass of bright green peas. There is a beautiful sunset photo of Mount Kilimanjaro; a mountain she climbed along with Mount Meru. It's fun to see the perfectly composed shot of Hadzabe boys splashing and playing among rocks and water.
The Library's Howard Room displays stunning formal portraits of Hadzabe hunters that manage to be both raw and glowing. It's difficult to grasp that the nomadic people called Hadzabe have gathered and hunted in the same region of the Rift Valley in Tanzania for at least 50,000 years. They have lived a lifestyle essentially unchanged until the beginning of the past century.
Another proof of excellence regarding "Sitting in the Mud,' is the clarity and resolution of the largest prints. Several labs helped make the best possible poster size enlargements; technically impressive considering that in addition to shooting the majority of the exhibit with professional cameras, the Zanzibar photographs were enlarged from images shot on an iphone 6.
'Sitting in the Mud: A Yearlong Walkabout in East Africa" will be displayed at the Blue Hill Library through May 30.
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