Huffingtonpost.com: What Is It Like to Document Endangered Tribes in Africa?

From: Berhane Habtemariam <Berhane.Habtemariam_at_gmx.de_at_dehai.org>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 23:04:36 +0200

What Is It Like to Document Endangered Tribes in Africa?

 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dainius-runkevicius> Dainius Runkevičius
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/becomeFan.php?of=hp_blogger_Dainius%20R
unkevi%C4%8Dius> Become a fan

Blogger and founder of 'Cat in Water' magazine

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dainius-runkevicius/what-it-feels-like-to-doc_
b_5145274.html

Posted: 04/14/2014 2:20 pm EDT Updated: 04/14/2014 2:59 pm EDT

I've seen a lot of photographers traveling around Africa and shooting local
tribes. It's kind of a trend in today's photography. However, none of them
talks much about the feelings and emotions they've experienced while being
around probably the most isolated people on the planet and capturing their
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dainius-runkevicius/what-it-feels-like-to-doc
_b_5145274.html>
dailydailyhttp://savingsslider-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png
routine.

Few days ago, I was contacted by Trupal Pandya and Alexander
Papakonstadinou, New-York based photographers who recently returned from
Ethiopia where they've been documenting endangered tribes. Trupal told me
more about their trip, and shared a series of photographs they took during
their time there. By looking at these photo's and listening to the
fascinating stories from the trip, I've realized that there is so much in a
"backstage." It is said that picture is worth a thousand words, however in
this case pictures can't begin to effectively demonstrate even a tiny part
of what it feels like to be so far away from the civilization and document
people living that way.

This story enthralled me to the extent that I decided to conduct an
interview, which could allow viewers to experience a small part of what
photographers went through in a forgotten land of the Sahara. Below you'll
find a record of exclusive conversation with Trupal Pandya and a series of
photographs from the trip that, I sincerely hope, will allow you to gain a
sense of this fantastic adventure.

Q: What prompted you to conduct this trip to Ethiopia?

The sole reason we went to Ethiopia to document these tribes was to
photograph them before they vanished. Our initial research showed that these
tribes were vanishing due to multiple reasons including westernization,
globalization. Also, the government is building a huge dam in the valley due
to which they might have to relocate in near future. We wanted to photograph
them in their most natural and raw form before they
changed/modernized/vanished.

Q: Where have you been travelling exactly? Did you have a permanent place
for camp?

We landed in Addis Ababa and drove to our base Jinka. We branched out from
Jinka to different tribes in the interiors and kept coming back to Jinka to
charge our batteries, refuel, get water, food etc. Sometimes we would drive
for 12 hours in the jungle to reach a particular tribes. We slept in tents
and our car at times.

Q: How did you manage to access tribes?

We were really lucky to find the right fixer who gave us access to these
tribes. We took huge sacks of coffee or corn whenever we went to a tribe so
they would let us stay. Sometimes it was money, sometimes clothes, sometimes
food. It was always a bartered thing.

Q: What was your impression when you met these tribes for the first time?

We worry about money, power, status and the way the world perceives us.
While we spend all of our energy succumbing to these, there's people like
you and me that are living parallel lives, except in a place where there's
miles of nothingness. The Omo Valley in Ethiopia, home to tribes like Mursi,
Hamer, Benna has been one of the most surreal places I have had the fortune
of experiencing.

Q: Can you describe feelings you have experienced during this trip?

Driving through dirt roads for hours, going deeper into the vastness of the
wilderness in Ethiopia, the feelings moving through my body cannot be
explained. Never before in my life have I seen a group of people so detached
from what you and I call civilization. Yet, while I looked at them through
the lens, the intensity of their gazes and the force of existence that they
were emitting was almost unnatural.

Q: How did local people react to your camera? Were they shocked or has it
become almost routine for them?

Photographing tribes was the most challenging thing, temperamentally they
seemed heated, with the advent of tourism they have learnt they can make
money in exchange of letting people photograph them. With their constant
badgering, it was hard to focus on a subject as long as I would have liked
to, additionally, every time the flash went off, they believed the stark
light was sucking up their blood. It was evident the discomfort it was
causing them; the more flashed that went off, the angrier they got. The fact
that they were carrying AK-47s further caused me to be intimidated, but our
driver and tour guide managed to put me at ease when he pulled out a
semi-automatic weapon himself and escorted us away.

 

Q: What is your most treasured memory from the trip?

While the entire trip was magical, there are some stories that stand out
more than the others. The night I saw a young boy perform his rite of
passage is one of them. Seeing him jump over the backs of these bulls was an
extraordinary display of talent. Before he took the leap, the nervousness
hung thick in the air; but it didn't last long as the women of the tribe
inebriated by now, broke into loud, manic chants and cheers to encourage and
welcome the boy into manhood.

Q: What message do you wish for your photographs to convey to the world?

I remember sitting out and just looking up at the vast stretches of
nothingness, when a plane flew overhead. The people on the plane had no idea
what is right under them, this whole new world where humans exist, in their
most raw form. They were the most beautiful people I have laid eyes on, some
of them were bare naked, some had adorned themselves with beads, some had
painted themselves with ash, yet they all had a sense of regality to them.
And that raw
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dainius-runkevicius/what-it-feels-like-to-doc
_b_5145274.html>
beautybeautyhttp://savingsslider-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png
in it's most natural form is what I want to show the world through my
photographs. The people of Omo Valley compelled me to reassess the way I
looked at life, rather retold me of what is important. We get too caught up
in the rat race called life, Ethiopia reminded me that money is not
important to be happy, what matters is the hunt for our own happy place
where we see beauty in all things.

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe12.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe12.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe34.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe34.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe56.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe56.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe10.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe10.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe11.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe11.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe121.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe121.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe13.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe13.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe14.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe14.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe15.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe15.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe16.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe16.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe17.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe17.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe18.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe18.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe19.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe19.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-africantribe20.jpg>
2014-04-14-africantribe20.jpg

TRUPAL PANDYA
 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-23.jpg> 2014-04-14-23.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-28.jpg> 2014-04-14-28.jpg

 <http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-14-24.jpg> 2014-04-14-24.jpg

Photos by Trupal Pandya and Alexander Papakonstadinou

 





Received on Mon Apr 14 2014 - 17:05:24 EDT