Short Summary
My name is Hannah Mentz and I’m an award-winning photographer who grew up in Zimbabwe. I’m running this campaign to help fund the printing costs of a self-published book about the personal project I’ve been working on for the past two years called Great Zimbabweans. Every supporter who chooses the buy a book option will receive a copy of the limited-edition coffee-table book of the Great Zimbabweans project.
The Great Zimbabweans project is a positive and inspiring portrayal (portraits and interviews) of 40 Great Zimbabweans - one for every year of Zimbabwe's 40 years of Independence in 2020. I wanted to create this project to be an antidote to the largely negative depressing narrative about Zimbabwe that one sees in the media. Zimbabweans need something to uplift them and hoping that this project may be able to throw a positive light on all Zimbabwean people, their achievements and many talents.
This campaign will help me achieve my dream of publishing the Great Zimbabweans project as a book which means a lot to me on many levels- it would be my first-ever published book but on top of that, because the project is about Zimbabwean people, I would love to be able to share this body of work with as many people as possible. I believe the collective voices of my participants are very powerful and may offer different ways of looking at the country, looking at a different future and celebrating Zimbabwean identity.
My goal is to achieve between 200-500 pre-orders of the book (EUR5,000-7,500) by the end of December 2020 which will allow me to take the book to print mid January 2021, estimated to ship in April 2021. As a thank to my supporters, there will be a 7x5 gift print from the project with every copy of the book ordered. There won't be any risks to the campaign. If my minimum is not met, I will still be able to go ahead and fulfill the pledges, but on a smaller scale and with digital printing of the book rather than litho printing.
I understand if you just can't contribute, but you can still help me by getting the word out about the Great Zimbabweans project and following it on Instagram on @greatzimbabweans2020
Please contact me on mail@hannahmentz.com if you are having any difficulty with the ordering or if there's an option you would like that I haven't included.