Africa Adorned - a photo on Flickriver

Africa Adorned

Peul (Fulani, Fulbe, Fula) nobelwomen with tattooed lips and gold earrings. Semi-nomadic pastoral settlement in the Hombori region of central Mali - part of the semi-arid Sahel zone that stretches across northern Africa just south of an encroaching Sahara. High resolution Noritsu Koki slide scan, Asahi Pentax SP Spotmatic, (SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4), circa 1976.

Peul women of this region often tattoo their lips, gums, and the area around the mouth before marriage, a painful aesthetic practice and rite of passage signifying marital status.

The extravagant earrings or "kwottenai kanye" symbolize the wealth and prestige of a husband or family based largely on the ownership of cattle among the Peul of the region.

The earrings are also an aesthetic symbol of cultural pride and identity, usually passed on as a gift from a husband to his wife or an heirloom to a daughter on the death of her mother.

Documentary Portraiture | National Geographic | BodyArt

© All rights reserved. expl#335

Taken in: Mali / Mopti / Nissanata (show map)

Taken on: January 1, 1976

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Sets appears in: • Portraits • Documentary/Street more » • Mali • Faces of Africa • Vanishing Cultures • BodyArt • Analog • In Explore « less

Groups appears in: • Street Documentary: Story, Life, Human Connection • Portrait★Faces more » • Portraits That Tell a Story (READ RULES BEFORE POSTING!) • The Flickr Portrait Gallery • RAW Street Photography • Street Portraitist • Documentary Portraiture • Platinum Photography Group *Level 1* • Documentary Pictures (Narrative Photography) • National Geographic Faces of the World • Focus on Africa • Art of Images ~ AOI L1~ ( Post 1, Award 3) NO "AI Portraits" • Portraits du monde • The Best Portraits AOI ~AOI L2~(Admin Invite) (P1-Award & Fave3) • !Art and Photography (seriously18+) INVITE ONLY • 53 Faces of Africa - Portrait Photography • PORTRAITS ~Together´s Art Gallery "Admin Invite Only" AWARD 2 • ~ Passage to Beauty ~ • The Elite Gallery AOI~AOI L3~(Admin Invite) (NEW RULES) • Social Documentary Photographers Group. • Portraits & Context (Stories Behind the Photos) • Tattoo faces (+ similar makeup). • Fulani people, Peulh • street portraits / retratos callejeros • Prestige Photography (Admin invited image only) • Yellow Rose Dragon Award (P1 A3) • Prestige Photography - The very best • African Style & Fashion • Social Documentary & Street Photography • in explore • More Like Magnum - Street Assignments • Environmental portrait - Ritratto ambientato • LES PORTRAITS DU MONDE/PORTRAITS FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD (No n • Au Plaisir des yeux - To the pleasure of the eyes • What is the Story? « less

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