TRIBAL BODY DECORATION

African tribal body decoration has become the initial starting point for my visual research. From this, I have begun looking at photographer, Hans Silvester's images of peoples of the Omo Valley Tribes, Ethiopia. His work features photo's of people of the Surma tribe, who decorate their bodies with natural clays and ornate floral head pieces. I'm interested in the combination of geometric hand-painted patterns, with organic botanics.

I am keen to explore the contrast between simplistic, opaque and often neutral body paint with exotic African florals.