In search of the 'white vampires', deep in the Tanzanian mountains

Blood stealers — Far into the mountainous jungle of Tanzania, an old building filled with creatures and curiosities sits in limbo, once frequented by 'white vampires' of the past.

“Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it.” So says Gabriel García Márquez, magic realist muse of photographer Evgenia Arbugaeva.

Originally from Siberia, Arbugaeva graduated from the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism programme at New York’s International Centre of Photography. “I’m drawn to people who live in remoteness and people who are really focused on what they,” she explains, when I ask why her work so often focuses on isolated protagonists.

Nostalgia forms the foundation of her latest body of work, in which she captures the recounted memories of Amani Hill Research Station, set high in the jungle of the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. Originally established by German colonists as a botanical garden, after World War II it became a British malaria research institute. But since 1979, when the malaria institute was relocated, Amani has been left in a state of semi-abandon.

04_PressImage l Evgenia Arbugaeva l Amani l Untitled #51, 2016Stuck between the past and present, the site became of interest to Norwegian anthropologists studying scientific stations from colonial periods, and the memories, expectations and dreams that still linger. Holding a conference on the subject, they invited Arbugaeva to be a speaker, since they wanted an artist’s perspective on the work.

“They told me about Amani, and I thought it was a really fascinating story,” she says. “I found it amazing how people put so much time into studying dreams and nostalgia, and this is what I do in my work, so I thought it would be a perfect match.”

Like the jars of animal specimens still lining the shelves of the labs, the institute is frozen in time, preserved by the stories of the assistants employed to maintain the site in case it has a future. Generations of mice continue to be bred, ready for the next big discovery.

Back when the institute was functional, local Tanzanians were employed as assistants too, trekking up the hill to enter a surreal world the British built, Arbugaeva explains. “They would have to dress up with fresh shirts and enter this realm of knowledge and silence,” she continues.

01_PressImage l Evgenia Arbugaeva l Amani l Untitled #55, 2016

Amani_Arbugaeva_01s

“Through one person you can tell the story of the whole world,” she suggests, and in this project she makes no exception. John Mganga is a former assistant of British entomologist John Raybould, and it’s through his gaze that the mystical building is discovered and explored.

Through speaking with Mganga, Arbugaeva was able to learn more about the station’s rich history. He recounted how his former boss was married at the institute, how each day he insisted on drinking tea at 5 o’clock in what was nothing short of a ritual.

Attempted murder was also amongst his recollections. According to Mganga, a strange tension began to develop between the scientists and some members of the surrounding community back in its heyday, due to studies being understood as dark magic.

“They would go round at night, since that’s when malaria is active, and would take blood samples from local people,” she tells me. “They thought [the scientists] were performing sinister rituals. Some of them were thinking they were magicians making potions in their lab. The researchers came to be known as white vampires in Swahili.

02_PressImage l Evgenia Arbugaeva l Amani l Untitled #50, 2016

It was this eerie underbelly to the site’s history that informed Arbugaeva’s approach to capturing the centre. “There’s so much light there, but in my mind it had a darker palette so in that sense I had to make a decision when I photographed about the general tone of the series.”

She also took inspiration from her own imagination. “I took all the books that I found interesting,” she says., “and laid them around, and sat in that library on my own for hours looking through them, trying it imagine how it was back in that time,” she says.

And yet while conservation is behind every move at the institute, Arbugaeva acknowledges it may well forever exist in its current state of flux.

“Amani will never be the same again – even if scientists come back, it will be a different era, a different way of thinking about Africa,” she suggests. “It won’t be considered a living laboratory as it was, a place to make discoveries and dreams.”

Whatever the future of the centre though, she has managed to capture a moment of beauty and decay, before it fades completely into the past.

EVGENIA ARBUGAEVA: AMANI runs  5 May–18 June 2017 at The Photographers’ Gallery in London. 

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.


You might like

Two men in recording studio with red and pink lighting. One operates equipment at mixing desk, other sits on white cube wearing dark jumper.
Culture

“Humanity’s big threat is our disconnect from nature”: Craig Richards and Chris Levine in conversation

Lighting up — With Houghton Festival collaborating with artist Chris Levine in its most recent edition, we sat down with the light artist and the festival’s creative director Craig Richards to chat about their new installations, and the role of art and music in tumultuous times.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Man in dark jacket standing beside white tents in sandy area with palm trees and buildings in background under clear sky.
Culture

Three heart wrenching poems from Gaza

Writings that narrate — With Gaza’s population facing starvation, we are handing over our website to Yahya Alhamarna, a displaced poet and student in Gaza, who shares some of his recent poetry, and explains why writing is so important to him.

Written by: Yahya Alhamarna

Person lying on blue mat outdoors amongst trees and bushes on dirt ground with scattered branches and vegetation.
Culture

An insider’s view of California’s outdoor cruising spots

Outside Sex — Daniel Case’s new photobook explores the public gay sex scene, through a voyeuristic lens, often hidden just below plain sight.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Black and white film still showing person in dark cloak walking through snowy courtyard with stone walls and archways.
© Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation
Culture

Daido Moriyama’s first four photobooks to be published in English for the first time

Quartet — A new anthology collates Japan, A Photo Theater, A Hunter, Farewell Photography and Light and Shadow, alongside journal entries and memoranda.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Woman with long dark hair in black dress and coral kimono standing before vibrant mural with orange dragons, pink shapes, and colourful abstract forms.
© Lady Pink
Culture

Meet Lady Pink, the ‘First Lady’ of graffiti

Miss Subway NYC — As a leading writer and artist in a man’s world, Sandra Fabara has long been a trailblazer for girls in underground art. Now, her new show touches on her legacy, while looking to the future.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Illustration with grey brick wall, white "NO ENTRY" tape, yellow text reading "BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP", black and white figures below with VPN and age rating symbols.
Culture

Will internet age verification actually work?

VPN Summer — With the Online Safety Act coming into force over the weekend, the UK woke up to find pornography, but also any content deemed “harmful” hidden behind an ID wall. But young people are far too tech savvy to be deterred, explains newsletter columnist Emma Garland, who also warns of the dangers of mass data harvesting.

Written by: Emma Garland

Huck is supported by our readers, subscribers and Club Huck members. It is also made possible by sponsorship from:

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to informed with the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, featuring personal takes on the state of media and pop culture from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...