Friday, April 10, 2009




Tribal Ornamentation

This last assignment was ornamentation.
I was thinking about body ornamentation and found a very interesting book (Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa, by Hans Silvester) that features beautiful portraits of members of the Surma and Mursi tribes in Ethiopia. They are the last two tribes in the world who still paint their bodies as ornamentation. It is a daily ritual that is a community event, small groups paint each other and themselves using natural items that are a part of their environment. It is based on instinct and an awareness of environment.
I found myself really inspired by this form of expression and thought about how it could be applied to myself. I see my life as completely opposite of any member of these tribes and I was very curious to see how I could use my environment as decoration and if these two would relate. I also asked my roommate to join me because this is often a group event.
I am pretty happy with the results, but feel that a larger series... Perhaps a tribe, would be a more effective way to relate to this African tradition.