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Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa
 
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Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa (Paperback)

~ Hans Silvester (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
List Price: $29.95
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  Hardcover, April 27, 2008 -- $191.40 $178.00
  Paperback, April 26, 2009 $19.77 $18.57 $29.33

Frequently Bought Together

Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa + Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley + Faces of Africa
Price For All Three: $122.07

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  • This item: Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa by Hans Walter Silvester

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  • Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley by Hans Walter Silvester

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  • Faces of Africa by Carol Beckwith

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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.


Product Description

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.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 168 pages
  • Publisher: Thames & Hudson (April 27, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0500288054
  • ISBN-13: 978-0500288054
  • Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.7 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,190 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #1 in  Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism > Regional > African
    #1 in  Books > Travel > Africa > Ethiopia & Djibouti
    #2 in  Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Travel > Africa

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More About the Author

Hans Walter Silvester
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa
87% buy the item featured on this page:
Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa 4.3 out of 5 stars (12)
$19.77
Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley
7% buy
Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley 5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
$79.20
Faces of Africa
3% buy
Faces of Africa 4.2 out of 5 stars (10)
$23.10
Vanishing Beauty: Indigenous Body Art and Decoration
1% buy
Vanishing Beauty: Indigenous Body Art and Decoration
$57.37
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beauty does not need a context, June 13, 2008
By ChevalierMalFait (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa (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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Tribal Decoration, July 27, 2008
By Noemi (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa (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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Natural Fashion: Tribal decorations from Africa by Hans Silvester, August 29, 2008
By Lone Hansen "Miss Denmark" (Bainbridge Island , WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa (Hardcover)
This is an amazing book. I am a painter and it made me want to get in my studio and start paintings, the textures, the patterns and then now and then the sad contrast of weapons and Natures beauty, brings you right back to "real" world.I can't stop looking at the pictures, they draw you in. It is truly a beautiful people. The first time I saw it ,was at a friends house and I just had to go get it for myself. My friend offered to loan it to me, but that just wasn't enough. Thank you Hans Silvester for creating this book. Lone Hansen, Bainbridge Island , WA
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable!
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. Read more
Published 2 months ago by R. Nichol

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly an art book . .
My interest in this subject (the people of the Omo valley in Ethiopia) started with a YouTube (called The People of Omo) that I had sent to me. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Suzan Bartels

5.0 out of 5 stars Nature, Art & Africa
I learned of this book from the woman who does my hair, British, named Helen. She had brought it to the salon. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Maggy

5.0 out of 5 stars Documented with full-page color photos and accompanying historical insights
Hans Silvester's NATURAL FASHION: TRIBAL DECORATION FROM AFRICA is a powerful presentation of East African tribal decoration routines. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Midwest Book Review

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring!
This is a breath-taking book. I haven't had a chance to read the text yet, but I was able to pour over every photo of my friend's copy with awe and wonder. Read more
Published 9 months ago by R. Peters

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment
I never received this item (Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa by Hans Silvester, purchased 12/16/08). First it was to take 3-4 weeks to ship. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Artfulbil

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book of African Photos
I own most of the African Coffeetable Photos Books printed and this is by far the most beautiful Book I have ever seen!
Published 15 months ago by A. R. Thompson

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking
This book transcends fashion. The inventiveness of those pictured is breathtaking. I showed it to a friend and it made him cry! It's that powerful.
Published 17 months ago by Mimi Jones

1.0 out of 5 stars pretty...ridiculous
The sub title, "Decoration from Africa" is literally correct but substantially misleading. This is a book of sumptuous photographs of young and beautiful inhabitants of... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Amyas Naegele

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