Biljana Jurukovski, Tribal Muses (People and Portrait 2018)

Tribal muses is a collection of intimate portraits of the tribal Surma people. Surma tribe resides on the border between Ethiopia and South Sudan. In the most remote areas of this part of the world indigenous tribes have been painting their bodies with pulverized minerals for millenia.Red ochre, yellow sulfur, white kaolin, white limestone and grey ash are common minerals in the area. Certain clay deposits are sacred to the tribes. Body scarifications are also part of the Surma culture.The Surma tribe use flora and fauna as adornments and they devise creative head ornaments from leaves, branches, seedpods, fruit and seeds.The aim of this project was to show the beauty and the artistic skills of the indigenous people and to create awareness of the beauty of cultural diversities.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.