The Soul of the Savanna

Shards of dust shimmer in the sunlight, like diamond deposits down by the riverbank. As the wind wails and sighs between the rock slates and the shrubbery, models Sandile and Francois become lost in the maze of the midday mirage. The harassing goad of the afternoon heat is harrowing, leaving the boys no choice but to seek shelter in the safety of the shade. Though as the sun descends, the boys emerge, immersing themselves in the splendour of their South African surroundings.

Like brothers, the boys are bound not by the blood in their veins, but by the same air that they breathe. Anchored in alliance, empowered in partnership, the boys stand side by side at the start-line of this new human race, where for too long, the pace of the privileged has been driven by the pain of their prejudice.

Photography & Filmmaking duo The Masons take to the torched terrain, capturing the boys as they amble upon acres of the arcing grasslands. Just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the auburn hue of the subsolar sky glazes the scorched sands, as their footsteps sediment like stones settled in the soil beneath them. The boys venture to the verge of the embankment, where their reflections incide upon the surface of the waterside. Looking down, not a cloud hangs above in the empty air around them.

Enveloped in the essence of the indigenous ecosystem, stylist Mikhailia Petersen employs patterns and palettes which embody the boys in the wealth of the surrounding biodiversity. Locked and allured to the heart of the wilderness, it’s hard not to fall in love with the soul of the savanna.