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Jonathan-Dough
[14339799]
[2010-07-09 01:28:04 +0000 UTC]
"Jonathan Dough"
(United States)
# Statistics
Favourites: 15; Deviations: 58; Watchers: 10
Watching: 14; Pageviews: 8728; Comments Made: 199; Friends: 14
# About me
FEATURING NATIVE PEOPLES OF THE TRIBES IN THE OMO VALLEY REGEON OF S.W. ETHIOPIAAll work is copyrighted, please respect it.
Any presentation of African tribal people will invariably raise criticisms of stereotyping Africa. The late photographer Herb Ritts published a photo book that 70% of readers gave 4 or 5 stars, calling it stunning, creative, beautiful. But 30% gave it a single star. One remarked, "Oh what a stinker of a book.... a classic example of the worst stereotypes of Africa. Africa is a desert. Africa is full of animals. Africa is deadly. Africans run around naked. Shame. Shame. Shame."
Another reader said, "I cannot begin to put into words just how much a book ... of this nature distresses me. Hasn't this wonderful continent and its peoples had enough of being made into the latest fairground attraction? ...We are not a zoo, a nicely organised and pretty arrangement of ethnic curiosities."
Again, most praised the book. Said one, "Shame on you for being ashamed. Your inability to see the beauty in it, and the fascinating complex forces that make for a kind of serenity that Americans do not experience--even as it deprives them of convenience and longevity--is your loss."
I'm sure some will criticize my photos as well. So let me say loud and clear what shouldn't need to be said at all: this collection of photos of today's tribal African people does not represent "Africa" any more than a collection of photos of Native Americans or cowboys represents "America."
All of these photos were taken over a recent span of 14 years, most in 2012. If you feel initially shocked or taken aback at the nudity (which I'm guessing is what some find so disconcerting), I can tell you that when you walk among these beautiful people, it takes all of about 15 minutes to adjust enough to the different culture to take it all in stride. In very short order, seeing it from within the context of their culture, it all seems quite natural.
An editorial review of Ritts' work highly praised his book "despite the fact that it is a wildly ahistorical album that revives troubling old National Geographic stereotypes." In other words, even though it depicts nudity. But how is that "wildly ahistorical"? What is "troubling" about the old N.G. photos? (Perhaps that reviewer was among those who were appalled at the fleeting glance at a breast when Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunctioned.) In spite of modernity's fast encroachment, vast areas of tribal life such as you see here do still exist in Africa and elsewhere; so one has to ask those who get so embarrassed, is it okay to photograph with style anything else in the world, or any other people in the world, except certain Africans?
Men are featured here more than women, not just because that's where my greater interest lies, but also because they are more accessible in a culture where it's still a man's world. In these parts, women are still—and it's sad to put it this way—the workhorses. From the time they are little girls and barely able to lift a baby, they're baby-sitting and doing chores. For the rest of their lives, they’ll work—carrying wood and water, grinding grain, caring for the children…. Meanwhile, the men walk beside them carrying nothing—or maybe just an AK-47—or they are leisurely herding the cattle. Sometimes they do fight enemies. Girls, who are never totally uncovered, rarely have the freedom to run around after the occasional visitor begging to have their photos taken. Nor have I seen them at the river mixing paint and decorating their bodies. Boys, who don't usually wear anything until around puberty, are privileged not to have to work much, and have the time and permission to engage in those activities. In manhood, their wrap is optional when they're away from the village and even while engaging in their unique sport of stick fighting (as can be seen on YouTube). I am speaking of the Mursi and Suri tribes, where the women wear lip plates and which I think are the most remote tribes of the area. These are not so typical of the less remote tribes in the Omo Valley, just as those other tribes are not typical of the rest of Ethiopia.
I have traveled on 6 continents. The more different a culture is from mine, the more fascinating it is to me. I've been all over Ethiopia (most of which, I feel obliged to stress again, is more typical of Africa than these tribal areas) and I have come to love and respect the people there. If you can't go and visit them yourself, maybe you can do so vicariously through these images.
JD / LH
