Tribes by Art Wolfe

by Art Wolfe

On every continent except Antarctica, there are extraordinary indigenous peoples who adorn themselves with the wondrous ornamentation that nature multicolored clays and dyes,brilliant feathers, and other exotic elements.But as civilization expands, it encroaches on their unique ways of their customs have begun to change as they are assimilated into dominant societies. To celebrate these traditions, world-renowned nature photographer Art Wolfe has traveled around the world to observe and document the people and places in Tribes, a remarkable collection of more than 120 photographs.Using his skills as a photographer of the natural world, Wolfe turns his lens on thirty-five diverse groups--among them, the Bumi of Ethiopia, who scar their torsos with raised geometric designs; the Maasai warriors of Kenya, with their towering ostrich plume headdresses and vivid ochre dyes; the Lisu women of northern Thailand, whose indigo turbans are laden with colorful tassels and pounded silver; the men of Samoa, who tattoo their torsos and thighs in marvelous, meaningful patterns; and the Kayapo of the Amazon Basin, who paint themselves with tropical fruit dyes and wear flamboyant headdresses of parrot feathers.But Tribes is more than a simple document of body it is a bold celebration of the pageantry and patterns of everyday life. With an introduction by Harvard anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis and a foreword by Iman, Tribes offers a rare glimpse into the world's most fascinating cultures. Taken tribe by tribe, the variety of adornment and cultural experience Art Wolfe has discovered is astonishing; taken as a whole, the collection of photographs is a testimonial to the power of human creation and spirit.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Over the course of his forty year career, photographer Art Wolfe has worked on every continent and in hundreds of locations. His photographs are recognized throughout the world for their mastery of color, composition and perspective. Wolfe's photographic mission is multi-faceted: art, wildlife advocacy, education, and journalism inform his work.

Wolfe is the host of the award-winning television series Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge, an intimate and upbeat series that offers insights on nature, culture, and the realm of digital photography. It now airs worldwide. He was also featured in the 2015 Canon Australia/National Geographic Channel production Tales by Light, now streaming globally on Netflix.

Since his first publication in 1978, Wolfe has released more than 100 books in all editions; 2014 saw the release of his magnum opus Earth Is My Witness; this mega project features Wolfe's favorite photos taken so far and is garnering international accolades and awards. In 2015 it was published by National Geographic in France (Hymne à la Terre) and Germany (Eden). Published in Fall 2021 is Night on Earth.

Numerous US and international museums and galleries have featured monographs of his work as well his traveling exhibitions, Travels to the Edge, and Beyond the Lens. Earth Is My Witness is now a traveling exhibit in Europe. Wolfe has been a contributor to many group exhibitions.

Education is a major component of Wolfe’s work, whether it is about the environment or about photography. He leads photographic tours worldwide and has created the streaming course Pathways to Creativity.

Wolfe's photographs have appeared in the world’s top magazines such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, Audubon, GEO, and Terre Sauvage. Magazines all over the world publish his photographs and stories, and his work is licensed for retail products and advertising, as well as products such as USPS stamps, of which he has three, including the latest Forever Stamp commemorating the US National Parks.

Along with his numerous book and television awards, Wolfe is the proud recipient of the Nature's Best Photographer of the Year Award, the North American Nature Photography Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Photographic Society of America’s Progress Medal. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, and a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

Wolfe maintains his office, stock agency, and production company in Seattle, Washington. His fine art work is available online at artwolfe.com.

Reviews

[Andrew H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning photography that portrays human dignity throughout.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tribes contains photographs of people the world over, usually from rural/less developed/less known areas. These are people whose lives hew more closely to tradition than most of us living in more developed areas, and the costumes and decoration pictured can be incredibly elaborate.

At the end of each section there's a bit of info about each of the tribes whose members are pictured. One thing I found striking was the lip plates—not their existence, but that in one tribe they were decoration for women and in another (on another continent) they were decoration for men. I might have preferred the text to be woven in more closely with the photos, because I often wanted more specifics, but keeping the text separate did mean that the photos were permitted to take up the entire page in this oversized book.

Here's something curious, by the way. Iman wrote the foreword, and she opens by saying this: The population of my native country, Somalia, does not include people who practice body ornamentation comparable to what Art Wolfe spectacularly presents here in Tribes. Nevertheless, being an African and from the same continent as many of the book's subjects, I am compelled by pride to offer a few words of respect (18).

Later on the same page, she says: When I arrived in the United States in 1972, simply being from Somalia was enough to generate rumors regarding my "discovery" that were as fantastic as they were absurd. According to some, I was discovered herding goats across the Horn of Africa. According to others, I was a Somali princess who had dwelled in splendor, albeit buried amidst the darkest corners of Somalia. In reality, I was a political science student at the University of Nairobi, in Kenya. It was the shepherdess and the princess stories, however, that the press printed and not the political science truth. Africa has always been one of the "civilized" world's favorite places on which to project imaginary fantasies (18).

Make no mistake; she is complimentary about Wolfe's work. I kind of love, though, that she takes that moment to raise an eloquent eyebrow and remind readers that what they see in the book is but one facet of these people's lives and that these costumes and practises and so on are specific to certain tribes within certain regions. (Incidentally, I'm reminded of something Alek Wek writes, about her 'discovery' being portrayed as an out-of-the-dirt-and-dust thing...)

I'm off topic (shocker), so I'll wrap up by saying that I only wish this had been longer. Some of the groupings contained only three or four photos, and I gladly would have read a much longer work that not just focused on the more ceremonial garb but also gave time to some of the simpler moments.