Absolutely beautiful collection by German photographer, Hans Silvester entitled “Les Habits de la Nature”, celebrating the unique art of the Surma and Mursi tribes of the Omo Valley, on the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. Amazing.
http://www.lamaisonpresbastille.com/habit_nature.php?test=1
Late posting, but seen recently at Stux Gallery (January 29 – March 21, 2009), new works by Ruud Van Empel.
http://web.ruudvanempel.nl/works.html
Ed Kashi’s engaging photographs of daily life and conflict in the oil rich Niger Delta has recently been published as a book.
Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta takes a graphic look at the profound cost of oil exploitation in West Africa, tracing the 50-year history of Nigeria’s oil interests and the resulting environmental degradation and community conflicts that have plagued the region.
***
If you’re in the NYC area, come view the prints at The powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn from August 15-September 28, 2008.
***
For more on Ed Kashi
http://www.edkashi.com/
For more on the book and powerHouse Books
http://powerhousebooks.com/curseoftheblackgold/
Image from CURSE OF THE BLACK GOLD: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Photographs by Ed Kashi, Edited by Michael Watts, published by powerHouse Books.Â
A look at two artists that have put a smile on our dial.
+ + + + + + + + + +
Johan Fanozi ‘Chickenman’ Mkhize began making art objects to sell on the street after being laid off work at a dairy farm.Â
He began with a moving dance sculpture while his road signs could found nearby along the kerb. It was these ‘road signs’ with their witty observations and odd typesetting, that captured the public’s imagination, and soon Chickenman signs were being snapped up by art and objet collectors.
More on Chickenman here and here.
+ + + + + + + + + +
You may have choked on your blini at Greenmarket Square seeing this man with his giant headdress made of eggs and artifacts.Â
“The guy with all the eggs on his head” is Gregory Da Silva, aka the ‘Egg Man’ or ‘Ei man’, a walking work of art and fast becoming a mobile ‘tourist spot’.
His headdress weighs up to twenty five kilograms and, initially, it was so bizarre, the bemused City Police detained him in a vehicle and called their superiors for advice. Naturally, he was free to go and is now very popular with tourists, posing in hundreds of photos during season and has also been hired to receive guests at hotels and airports!
More on the Egg Man here and here.
Clayton Cubbitt’s take on skinhead fashions from the early seventies in an Afrikan style.
Link to online gallery