On October 31, we will dress our kids up in Super Hero and princess costumes, paint their faces, and head out on a trek around the neighborhood to present our creativity to the neighbors. The Surma and Mursi tribes of the Omo valley on the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan don't have the luxury of a nearby Target store, nor does the nomadic tribe have architecture or crafts to express their innate creativity. As we would tie on a scarf or strap on a Batman mask, they use banana leaves, flowers, butterfly wings, feathers, animal horns and body paint from natural vegetation to transform their bodies into inventive and magical pieces of art.
Photographer and lifelong devotee to investigating and capturing intimate and organic phenomena, Hans Silvester, found himself most recently in this valley with the Omo people. The resulting works have made their way into the Marlborough Gallery in New York (2009, 2010), the Marlborough Gallery in Monaco (2009, 2010) and the Polka Galerie in Paris, France (2009).
Books featuring these bodies of work can be found on Amazon.
Post Author: Tamara Wallop
for Globally Gorgeous
