My Tribal Muses -The Avant Garde of the Tribal World

There’s a universe inside my mind and my tribal muses live there. They are rebellious, wild, untamed. They have been my unstoppable force in pursuing my dreams. They are a vision of women's strength, beauty and dignity. They are the wild flowers hard to find and once found it is impossible to forget them. My Tribal Muses’ series is a collection of intimate portraits of the beautiful Surma tribal girls. They were intentionally photographed against black backdrop, so the focus can be on the beauty and artistic skills. Surma tribe reside on the border between Ethiopia and South Sudan and one can claim that Surma are one of the most iconic tribes in Ethiopia. They still remain isolated, untouched by foreigners due to the location, lack of amenities and due to tribal conflicts. What makes them so iconic it is their imagination and artistic skills when it comes to beautification, decorating and being fashionable in their own way. Surma only use colours from crushed rocks to paint their bodies and faces and for hair decorations they use whatever they will find in the nature, such as branches, flowers and fruit. The aim of photographing the Surma was with intention to present beauty in a very unique way and to encourage all women to believe that there is nothing more beautiful than being unapologetically yourself. I do want to challenge the traditional way of how we see beauty in women and to provoke and lead viewers to engage in conversations about the concept of beauty.