Renowned East London fine-arts photographer Marlene Neumann has produced the first in a series of deeply personal DVDs in which she reveals how she spiralled into the depths of despair before experiencing a revelation which ultimately led to even greater international success.
In the first episode of the candid series entitled In the End there Was Just Me, Neumann, 51, whose evocative art images of country gates, trees, aloes and wildlife are suspended from walls all over the world, speaks about how at the age of 38 her life changed “180 degrees”.
The photographer and inspirational speaker said at the time she had been “given an illness” and came to the realisation that society and religion had failed her.
“I realised I was not being authentic. I had everything and nothing because I didn’t know what the truth was,” she said. “I wanted to go where there was silence and for me the desert was the closest to isolation.”
Her turmoil led to a life-changing five-night visit to the Kalahari Desert during which she slept in a tent and survived on water and vegetables. Here she experienced a life-changing “God realisation” that God was feminine and was to be found in everyone and everything.
Alone and vulnerable, Neumann found release in screaming “like a mad person” in the desert. “For the first time I realised what life is actually about and my life now is about gratitude,” said the artist and vegan, who declined to talk on the specifics of her illness, but whose health has been restored.
The video, which was launched in Johannesburg in February and is the first of a four-part series called Capturing What People don't Talk About...energy, emotions, spirit, shows Neumann interacting with elephants at Inkwenkwezi and saying that it was important to “feel” their spirit before photographing them.
She was head of the department of art and design at the Border Technikon (now Walter Sisulu University) for 20 years and now runs photographic workshops at her stylish Vincent studio, where her teaching goes beyond technical instruction.
Railing against the education system, Neumann said very little was taught about our emotional and spiritual selves and blamed this gap for a dysfunctional society.
“It’s taken me 50 years to find out how to be human.”
Neumann said the second half-hour episode titled We have to wake up would be available for R220 from next week. “This has been a new medium for me but the footage for the series, which is produced by former Prime Time producer Moira Tucker, has been done. I’ve already had pre-orders for the second episode from Johannesburg and Durban and we will eventually be looking to sell it for television.”
- For copies of the DVDs contact Neumann at neumann@worldonline or www.marleneneumann.com
Artist finds solace in desert
In the first episode of the candid series entitled In the End there Was Just Me, Neumann, 51, whose evocative art images of country gates, trees, aloes and wildlife are suspended from walls all over the world, speaks about how at the age of 38 her life changed “180 degrees”.
The photographer and inspirational speaker said at the time she had been “given an illness” and came to the realisation that society and religion had failed her.
“I realised I was not being authentic. I had everything and nothing because I didn’t know what the truth was,” she said. “I wanted to go where there was silence and for me the desert was the closest to isolation.”
Her turmoil led to a life-changing five-night visit to the Kalahari Desert during which she slept in a tent and survived on water and vegetables. Here she experienced a life-changing “God realisation” that God was feminine and was to be found in everyone and everything.
Alone and vulnerable, Neumann found release in screaming “like a mad person” in the desert. “For the first time I realised what life is actually about and my life now is about gratitude,” said the artist and vegan, who declined to talk on the specifics of her illness, but whose health has been restored.
The video, which was launched in Johannesburg in February and is the first of a four-part series called Capturing What People don't Talk About...energy, emotions, spirit, shows Neumann interacting with elephants at Inkwenkwezi and saying that it was important to “feel” their spirit before photographing them.
She was head of the department of art and design at the Border Technikon (now Walter Sisulu University) for 20 years and now runs photographic workshops at her stylish Vincent studio, where her teaching goes beyond technical instruction.
Railing against the education system, Neumann said very little was taught about our emotional and spiritual selves and blamed this gap for a dysfunctional society.
“It’s taken me 50 years to find out how to be human.”
Neumann said the second half-hour episode titled We have to wake up would be available for R220 from next week. “This has been a new medium for me but the footage for the series, which is produced by former Prime Time producer Moira Tucker, has been done. I’ve already had pre-orders for the second episode from Johannesburg and Durban and we will eventually be looking to sell it for television.”
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