Expect a stampede as beach beauties hoof it to New York
HOLY COW: Brawny Wild Coast residents cool off in the surf. The pictures are part of the Amapondo collection RURAL Eastern Cape cattle — famous for their daily strolls along the beach — are heading for the Big Apple.
Well, not really — but portraits of them are.
Acclaimed South African wildlife photographer Christopher Rimmer, now based in Australia, will be exhibiting his Amapondo cattle collection at New York’s Art Expo next month.
Rimmer, who grew up in the Eastern Cape, has captured the mottled beasts as they paddle in the shallow surf along Wild Coast beaches.
The 20-image collection will also be exhibited at the Jan Royce Gallery in Cape Town in June before heading to Munich, San Diego and Miami.
Rimmer said this week that there were many theories about the strange ritual.
“Some say it’s to remove ticks, some say the salt water helps with digestion, but I strongly suspect that it is temperature-related behaviour,” he said.
“After grazing in summer the animals can cool themselves in the afternoon sea breezes.”
In winter they sunbathe on the warm sand.
Rimmer said he noticed while photographing the cattle that they were “far more animated” when they were on the beach than they were when grazing inland.
“I’m really excited about taking a small, unique piece of South Africa over to America. I have had a lot of South Africans who say they are coming to see Amapondo and the Americans really love it too, so I have a positive feeling about it,” he said.
Rimmer has received mixed reactions to his photographic cattle collection.
“People are amused but they are also moved. I try to establish some visceral connection between the viewer and an everyday animal we all eat and wear and whose bones are made into glue.”
Rimmer’s aim was to photograph the herd in an “unusual and graphically compelling environment”.
In most images it appears as though the cattle are posing for Rimmer.
“We worked out that the animals, when separated from the herd, would walk parallel to the beach but then pause, making direct contact with the camera,” he said.
“If we were lucky, the animal would pause at the right spot.”