Headrests of Southern Africa

This book presents the fascinating subject of southern African headrests in a new light. With unique historical and personal information collected from many of the headrest’s original owners and carvers, and often accompanied by in situ photographs, the book tells the illustrated story of the headrests, as well as of the people behind them. For the first time African headrests are brought to life with detailed information on their carvers, and the stories of their creation, ownership, and use.

The 425 headrests from the collections of Bruce Goodall from Cape Town and Frédéric Zimer from Paris will be presented according to the 3 geographical areas: KwaZulu-Natal, north of the Tugela River (in what was previously known as Zululand) and the headrests from the Swazi.