Amulets & Dreams by Omar Badsha and Guy Tillim

This book covers civil strife and its effects on the society in 6 African countries namely Angola, Mozabique, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Eritria. The book and exhibition opened in Durban at the launch of the African Union by the OAU Secretary General Amara Essay (2002).

Edited: Omar Badsha

amulets & dreams - omar badsha

Dreams washed

by ancient rivers,

blew their way across vast grasslands

and generations of broken promises.

Dreams etched

on children's foreheads,

fashioned into amulets to ward off

the eyes of war, for the peace to come.

Dreams crept

through hedges of thorn and men with AK's,

wrapped dying cultures

in ancient parchments

Dreams flew

with an army of children on UN flights,

hid in adoption wards

in LA and Johannesburg.

Dreams detained

by praetorian guards armed

with paper resolutions,

drew a curtain over the revolution.

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Photographs: Guy Tillim and Omar Badsha

Text: Julia Maxted

Published: SAHO, ISS, Unisa Press.