May 4, 2026

The Blue Hill Public Library will present “Sitting in the Mud: A Yearlong Walkabout in East Africa,” by award-winning freelance photojournalist and author Robin Bowman. The exhibition features large individual images and floor to ceiling photomontage panels on display at the library from May 4 through May 30. The public is invited to a reception on Friday, May 8, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Robin describes various experiences from her trip: ”I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt.
Meru; went on many safaris, including into the Serengeti; returned to Rwanda to reunite
with friends whom I met and photographed years ago after the genocide; spent weeks on
the island of Zanzibar documenting life in a small, mostly Muslim fishing village; lived in
the bush with the Maasai and experienced life in a boma; traveled to Kenya several times
and photographed life on the streets in Nairobi; set up a home in Arusha, Tanzania,
adopted a dog, studied Kiswahili, volunteered at an orphanage, and lived life.”

She says that the most compelling experience was “living way out in the bush near Lake
Eyasi with the Hadza or Hadzabe– an indigenous tribe who are living a hunter-gatherer
existence that is little changed from 10,000 years ago and who are thought to number fewer than 1,000 today.”

Robin Bowman is an award-winning, internationally known photojournalist and author,
known for her work in portraiture and documenting the plight of humans in crisis all over
the world. Her work has appeared in major publications, including The New Yorker, Life,
People, Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times.  Her photographs appear in many
collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art. She is the author of the award-winning book, “It’s Complicated: The American Teenager” (theamericanteenager.com).

The exhibition will be available for viewing during library hours through May 30, with
access to artwork in the Howard Room subject to the meeting schedule. Prints of images
will be for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the library. For more
information contact the library at 374-5515.