Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration From Africa
By Hans Silvester
Thames & Hudson £19.95, 168 pages
FT bookshop price £15.96
Photographer Hans Silvester travelled to the remote Omo valley to capture the striking body art of the local Surma and Mursi tribes. Traditionally nomadic, the tribes decorate the territory of their naked bodies with whatever nature offers – leaves, flowers, grasses, butterfly wings and snail shells – plus the occasional pen top or Kalashnikov cartridge.
The spontaneously woven hats and headdresses are part fashion, part trophy display, part protection from the sun – but mainly just the expression of a joyful creative spirit. Here, a halo of colourful wild flowers and ruff of twisted leaves frame a young boy’s face, his features enhanced by daubs of paint made from powdered stone.
