Mario Marino
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More Informations : Mariomarino.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Body Art in the Omo River Valley – Mario Marino’s "Faces of Africa“ The world-forgotten Omo River Valley resembles Noah’s Ark. A multitude of different ethnic minorities - some with a population of only one or two thousand live here in close proximity. Whilst they have their respective cultural heritage and languages, they share a culture of body decoration, which shapes their daily life. Petals, fruits, twigs, shells and a pointillist painting in white chalk applied with tiny wood sticks transform bodies into artifacts. Establishing a bridge to the all-encompassing nature they simultaneously take pride in articulating individual identity and cultural affiliation. Fragile, ephemeral body art in more than one sense: living artworks that must constantly be recreated by an unfailing inventiveness coming ironically from indigenous cultures themselves under the permanent threat of extinction. In the spring of 2011 the German based photographer Mario Marino headed to this African origin of mankind with the firm intention to record what before long will be irrevocably lost. He finds villages and pastures recalling the desolate reservations of Native Americans in North America. The pressure of global civilization can be felt everywhere. The voyeuristic glare of the first tourists and in some areas an epidemic alcoholism gradually eclipse cultural identities. Mario Marino’s portraits of the men, women and children at the Omo River are far from offering an orientalistic perspective on a living environment so breathtakingly different, one always tends to forget that they are, just barely so, contemporary. The minimalistic staging using natural light with a monochrome back drop isolates the individual self from its natural living conditions by this means intensifying the expression of individuality. At second glance it establishes an unusual closeness with an unfamiliar body transforming it into a cipher, which can be read as a hint of the universality of fashion. The pictures from the Omo River are part of a more ambitious project “Faces of Africa" in the tradition of Irving Penn’s “World in a Small Room" and Richard Avedon’s “American West". Mario Marino sees Africa as the most “belated" continent. His camera tries to capture the visible tracks of a highly endangered cultural diversity. More Informations : Mariomarino.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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