Margaret Courtney-Clarke was born in Namibia in 1949. After studying art and photography in South Africa, she spent the next four decades working as a photographer in Italy, the USA and across Africa before returning to Namibia in 2009. Courtney-Clarke’s work demonstrates her particular dedication to rural cultures threatened by modernization and consumerism. Her publications include the acclaimed trilogy of Ndebele (1986), African Canvas (1990) and Imazighen (1996), as well as several collaborations with Maya Angelou. Steidl published Courtney-Clarke's Cry Sadness into the Coming Rain in 2017.