A JOURNEY INTO ETHIOPIA  …

Six years ago on this day, I participated in an exhibition at The White Box in Publika,  Kuala Lumpur. I was show casing about a dozen larger than life sized photos, which I had shot during one of my several expeditions into the Omo Valley in Ethiopia. I thought I should just share them with you on this sixth anniversary of my last visit to Ethiopia. I hope it will provide a temporary diversion from  the filth of our politicians, and the sad suffering of Malaysians  mercilessly pounded by this  pandemic.

There's something magical about larger than life photos. And of course, photos which are printed, have a special appeal and quality to them, compared to those we see only see on Instagram, Tik Tok and FB posts on our smartphone screens. 

And to those who swear by their smartphone cameras, just try and print your tiny smartphone photos even at A4 size, and you'll see why smartphones, in my book at least, can never replace real $15,000 cameras for those who are passionate and serious about their photography. 

I'm sorry I've had to pixelate some of the more interesting bits in these photos. I have hundreds more in all their tit-tilating glory, in my hard disks. They will eventually be  included in the several coffee table  books that I'm leisurely working on, to be printed on demand. online. Lately, FB has been  banning people who post photos of mammary glands, and photos of people who walk around bare breasted in their  own country. For goodness sake, these appendages are nothing more than natural teats on breast milk sacs for  feeding  babies. Nothing more to it. It has been well proven that mother's milk is the best food for infants and toddlers. My late mommy, God bless her beautiful soul, told me that she was breast feeding me till I was almost four years old. I don't  remember much of it, and I'm not implying anything, but there must be a lot of wisdom, and much un-talked about benefits from such a practice. 

In this country, where there are many hypocrites and thieves among our politicians and the religious morality police, the Malays are being subjected to morality laws, which will make them less than equal in civil and criminal courts, compared to their non Muslim fellow citizens. So I need to exercise self restraint  and voluntary censorship, lest I step on the toes of them over-zealous religious law enforcers.

Yusuf Hashim

15 July 2015

Sorry I had to pixelate some juicy parts, but blogger.com has quite a strict policy about nudity.... not that mammary glands are anything special to hide away ...

A young man and his art, on exhibition, at the White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur.

This is Panel # 3, clockwise, a Benna woman, a Mursi, a Karos and a little girl from Woyeta . And sitting cross legged is yours truly. I'm in the picture only to give a sense of scale to the exhibits. These square prints are 30 inches x 30 inches. The vertical ones are 30 x 60 ins or 2.5 ft x 5 feet. All photos were shot in RAW with my 300 mm prime at f/2.8 except for the little girl from Woyeta which was shot with my 24mm also at f/2.8.

The 300 mm lens, plus my 1DxMKII, and a monopod, weigh more than 7 kgs, and when I go on my photo expeditions, my carry on board camera bag is at least 18 kg, compared to 23kg for my checked in suitcase for clothes, chargers, adaptors, tripod and monopod. I always have a hard time getting through the boarding gates. A nasty experience I had was when I was boarding a Russian local flight from Moscow to Anadyr on the Bering Sea coast. No amount of my not inconsiderable charm could stop the Russian Ground hostess from not charging me US$220 for the extra kgs in my carry on camera bag.

Photo above is a gun toting Mursi Boy with his AK47 widow maker, at the Omo Valley in Ethiopia. This photo was selected to be part of the Portraiture Collection displayed at the Louvre on 13th July 2015. There was a book they did to commemorate that exhibition. I didn't think it was worth the money they were asking for the book, so I didn't buy it. For me, it was enough that I know my humble photo, managed to make it there.

As they often say ... beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. When a Mursi girl is very young, an incision is made in their lower lip. A wooden plug is inserted to keep the wound open. Over time, a larger and larger plug is inserted and eventually a series of ever bigger clay discs are inserted. At some stage, some of her lower teeth has to be broken so that the curvature of the clay disc can be accommodated. Strange ways of looking beautiful .... — at Omo Valley Ethiopia.

Anatomy of a Mursi Woman's Face ... The Mursis are semi-nomadic people living in the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia. Their women wear disc plates in their lips and in their ear lobes. Holes are made in the lower lip and ears when they are around 10 years old. A wooden peg is placed in the hole which is gradually enlarged as they grow older, with larger and larger clay plates. The two lower front teeth are pulled out in order to accommodate the plate. It is thought the origin of this mutilation was to protect them from slave traders.

The ornaments hanging from her ears are Hippo teeth. Both women and men mutilate their bodies as scars are considered to be decorative.

To prove their bravery, Mursi men fight each other with sticks called dongas. Often these result in serious injury and even death. Most Mursi men, women and even children, are armed with Kalashnikovs ... to defend their herds from cattle raids by other tribes.

The number of cattle a Mursi has is a measure of his wealth. About 40 heads of cattle, and a rifle, is the usual Dowry required, if a Mursi wants to marry. Photographing the Mursis can be quite scary. They usually asks for money if you want to photograph them. And you don't usually bargain with a Mursi carrying a Kalashnikov..... — at Omo Valley, Ethiopia 5°54'29" N 36°12'41" E

Multi-tasking Mursi woman - a mother, a worker, and a defender of her tribe. That lip plate is an ornament of beauty — in Bako, Gamo Gofa, Ethiopia.

Not sure what she was suggesting..... but I didn't stick around to explore the possibilities.

Two Suri children from the West Bank of the Omo River, deep in the under-belly of Ethiopia.

A senior Karos lady, a little bit past her prime, but still grand ....

A handsome Mursi young man. Those tusks hanging from his ears are Hippo teeth. The white body paint is made with ash mixed with fresh cow dung as a binder. They are usually stark naked, but I hesitate to show such pictures here as FB has quite strict rules regarding frontal nudity.