Mapalakata

Mapalakata is an extinct word recorded in oral

traditions of the area meaning

‘mysterious visitors’— which was used to describe

foreign traders who moved through

Southern Africa long before the time of

contemporary European colonisation. Robin

Bernstein, first travelled to and photographed along

the Mpumalanga Escarpment, a dramatic part of

South Africa’s Great Escarpment, in 2019. Mapalakata

explores this surrounding landscape and offers a visual

reassessment of a key historical and geographical

region in Southern Africa.