Hamar Man of Omo Valley
Ethiopia, 2013: Hamar Tribesman
We waited for our dugouts to take us across the river to visit the Dassanetch Tribe. Did you learn about dugouts in grammar school as I did? I can still remember Sister Jane Mary discussing the virtues of dugouts and thinking that I didn’t want to ever have to ride in one. Never say never goes the old adage. Here I was, many decades later, climbing into a hollowed out log to sit, very uncomfortably, with my legs wrapped around the person in front of me. The sides of the dugout came to my shoulder and I gripped them with both hands to keep from toppling backwards onto the person behind me. I was glad the river was fairly narrow.
This Hamar man was sitting on the river bank. And we descended on him. My instinct was to shoot him quickly, before he could object. When I did, I had the river as well as the river bank in the background. Our photographer guide pointed out that a solid background was better and we needed to stand closer to the man and shoot down to have a monochromatic background. I must admit this gives a cohesive look.
I was attracted to his hair style. It’s arranged through careful combing and using different colors of clay. I also liked the wound in his forehead. Perhaps it is a result of a tribal “conflict” as they put it. Hamar men pride themselves on being warriors. They are tall and lean with sinewy muscles: similar to the Masai of Kenya who are their neighbors.
Recently some of the Hamar men have started wearing t-shirts as this man is. He even has his collar ‘popped’.