Here are a few selections from a group of remarkable photographs by Hans Sylvester of people in the Omo region of Ethiopia, an isolated and fertile volcanic valley where the soil provides an array of pigments -- red ochre, white kaolin, copper green, yellow or light gray ash. They are masters of an ancient ancestral practice, which rather than being part of some religious rite, is a manifestation of "the desire to decorate, to seduce, to be beautiful, a game and a permanent pleasure" -- a true expression of deep sentience, fully integral, still extant in this place which was the cradle of humanity.17.4.09
Ethiopian Body Painting
Here are a few selections from a group of remarkable photographs by Hans Sylvester of people in the Omo region of Ethiopia, an isolated and fertile volcanic valley where the soil provides an array of pigments -- red ochre, white kaolin, copper green, yellow or light gray ash. They are masters of an ancient ancestral practice, which rather than being part of some religious rite, is a manifestation of "the desire to decorate, to seduce, to be beautiful, a game and a permanent pleasure" -- a true expression of deep sentience, fully integral, still extant in this place which was the cradle of humanity.
