Ethiopia Body Painting

Body paint of Omo Tribes, Omo Valley, Ethiopia

Mursi men with body paint, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

Karo Warrior in Traditional Body Paint, Ethiopia

Ethiopia Face Body Painting

Ethiopia 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.