The scene of tribal conflicts and guerrilla incursions, Ethiopia’s Omo Valley is also home to fascinating rites and traditions that have survived for thousands of years.
The nomadic people who inhabit the valley share a gift for body painting and elaborate adornments borrowed from nature, and Hans Silvester has captured the results in a series of photographs made over the course of numerous trips. 160 color photographs
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In this stunning collection of photographs, Silvester (Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley) celebrates the unique art of the Surma and Mursi tribes of the Omo Valley, on the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. These nomadic people have no architecture or crafts with which to express their innate artistic sense. Instead, they use their bodies as canvases, painting their skin with pigments made from powdered volcanic rock and adorning themselves with materials obtained from the world around them—such as flowers, leaves, grasses, shells and animal horns. The adolescents of the tribes are especially adept at this art, and Silvester's superb photographs show many youths who, imbued with an exquisite sense of color and form, have painted their beautiful bodies with colorful dots, stripes and circles, and encased themselves in elaborate arrangements of vegetation and found objects. This art is endlessly inventive, magical and, above all, fun. In his brief text, Sylvester worries that as civilization encroaches on this largely unexplored region, these people will lose their delightful tradition. 160 color photographs. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Hans Silvester is a member of the Rapho photographic agency. His most recent reports took him to Rajasthan, where he photographed the people of the Thar desert and the incredible bestiary of Shekhawati wall paintings. His books include Natural Fashion and A Window on Africa. Silvester lives in France.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
69 of 71 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I do not (yet) own this book, but I spent half an hour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art gift shop recently in an absolute trance paging through it. The sole review here trashing this beautiful book struck me as so unfair that I feel compelled to write a rebuttal.
The reviewer is concerned that this collection of photographs does not represent the daily lives and cultural practices of the people it represents. That in fact the attention these people are getting from tourists and photographers is encouraging them to show off and thus changing their cultural practices from what they were in isolation. All that may be true. But none of it obscures or in any way detracts from the undeniable truth that these are some of the most beautiful, creative, and uniquely adorned people in the world. To page through this book is to be transported momentarily into a world of sensual beauty that few of us even dare to imagine exists. The viewer who is open minded enough to appreciate it is gifted with an insight into the beauty of a people he/she might not have known even existed. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so.
Does photographing these people and the attention that ensues change them? Probably. Is that a bad thing? I don't know. But I do know it is up to the people being photographed to decide that. It is up to them to decide whether or not, and in what manner, they want to be photographed, not some outsider who believes their culture should be left intact. In a globalizing world, I can think of many types of attention from the outside world that would not be quite so benign. If it was done without compulsion, which appears to be the case, then I think that broadcasting the beauty of a people for the world to see is a good thing. Change is inevitable. Hopefully this sort of attention will help ensure that the change is positive.
The reviewer is concerned that this collection of photographs does not represent the daily lives and cultural practices of the people it represents. That in fact the attention these people are getting from tourists and photographers is encouraging them to show off and thus changing their cultural practices from what they were in isolation. All that may be true. But none of it obscures or in any way detracts from the undeniable truth that these are some of the most beautiful, creative, and uniquely adorned people in the world. To page through this book is to be transported momentarily into a world of sensual beauty that few of us even dare to imagine exists. The viewer who is open minded enough to appreciate it is gifted with an insight into the beauty of a people he/she might not have known even existed. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so.
Does photographing these people and the attention that ensues change them? Probably. Is that a bad thing? I don't know. But I do know it is up to the people being photographed to decide that. It is up to them to decide whether or not, and in what manner, they want to be photographed, not some outsider who believes their culture should be left intact. In a globalizing world, I can think of many types of attention from the outside world that would not be quite so benign. If it was done without compulsion, which appears to be the case, then I think that broadcasting the beauty of a people for the world to see is a good thing. Change is inevitable. Hopefully this sort of attention will help ensure that the change is positive.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a visual artist I can tell you that when I first picked this book up in my local library, the fantastic and surprising images nearly took my breath away!! I took it over to another artist's house and we looked through it together. Deciding right then to get our own copies. The wild painting on the beautiful black skin is very similar to the free and easy strokes in my own paintings. I am considering getting the other African related book my the same author.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Beautiful imagery. It will have you near tears... One of my most precious finds in recent months...the faces, the creativity, raw natural talent. Unbelievable. A wonderful book to draw inspiration from.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great Transaction!!
The product was exactly what was advertised, and the transaction went smooth and quickly. Would definitely do business with them again.
Published 2 months ago by Aaron
Natural Fashion Tribal Decoration from Africa by Hans Silvester
I purchased this amazing book at least a year ago, maybe longer, and I can honestly say it is a book that I go back to over and over and each time I view it, it is like the first. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Memory Howell
Wonderful book.
Beautiful photos; I am very happy that I purchased it. I have also shared the photos with my friends and family - amazing and brilliant work.
Published 6 months ago by Karmyak
natural fashion equals wearable art
This book totally lived up to expectation. Had viewed it on Facebook and really wanted it. Rivals wearable art competitions and surely would inspire some artists. :)
Published 7 months ago by LJK
visual bliss
This book is so visually appealing that I have to hide it from myself on the bookshelves. The photographs are not just graphically gorgeous but character and personality of the... Read more
Published 10 months ago by J. B. Dian
Nature as decoration.
Wonderful and fantastic decorations on the bodies of an African tribe. The imagination to use what they have found in nature as decoration is more than I could have imagined. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Tall Tree
Wonderful
Wonderful, wonderful book. Pictures make this book and they are A++. Shows creativity that I believe few have seen. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Sharon Merrick
Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa
This IS an amazing book. Fantastic photos of beautiful tribes, look, learn and be amazed!!! This book is Golden!!!!!! Read more
Published 12 months ago by Pedro
Stunningly beautiful portraits
Hans Silvester has created an absolutely stunning collection of portraits of the Surma and Mursi tribes of the Oma Valley. Read more
Published 12 months ago by M. Schiff
Creative use of nature to create beauty
This is a fabulous book. I am currently doing my second acrylic painting of a woman from this book. The colors are vibrant & each picture shares the creator's vision. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Jill
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