Edinburgh Fringe Exhibition celebrates Livingstone’s Fellow Explorers

EX leopard final low resTwo women, descendants of Livingstone’s fellow explorers, are celebrating Livingstone’s bicentenary with their exhibition, Livingstone’s Africa, which runs from 13-18 August 2013 at the Gladstone Gallery, Gladstone’s Land (off the Royal Mile).

Specialising in African tourism, Claire Foottit and Mary-Anne Bartlett were drawn together by a shared connection with the missionary explorer, Dr David Livingstone. Travel writer and photographer, Claire Foottit, is the great great great niece of William Cotton Oswell, the man who launched Livingstone as an explorer, on his first expedition to Lake Ngami in Bechuanaland (now Botswana) in 1849. Artist and safari-operator, Mary-Anne Bartlett (director of Art Safari), is the great great great granddaughter of Sir John Kirk, doctor and naturalist on the Zambesi Expedition (1858-1864) in Nyasaland (now Malawi), who later became the British Consul in Zanzibar.

“In the bicentenary year of Livingstone’s birth this exhibition of paintings and photography is our personal celebration of our forebears who played an important role in Livingstone’s achievements,” says Claire Foottit.

“We have both been inspired by our family links with Africa, by David Livingstone and by the many people we meet in Africa who continue to forge for development, maintain strong family links and conserve a unique way of life which is often integrated with Africa’s natural wonders of wildlife and landscape,” says Mary-Anne Bartlett.

From Zambia to Zanzibar, Malawi to Mozambique, Botswana and beyond, this exhibition of vibrant photographs and enchanting watercolours of people, wildlife and landscapes encapsulates the essence of Africa today, yet also connects with a world of the past.

Further information:

Claire Foottit: 0131 669 3335 | mobile: 0774 086 5061 | [email protected]

Mary-Anne Bartlett: 01394 382235 | [email protected]