Yoni Blau – "Proud Woman of the Omo Valley"

"This project (Proud Woman of the Omo Valley) was taken inside a Suri tribe in the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia. The models were not dressed, simply recorded as is. No artificial lighting was used. The pictures were taken within a dark tent with the light coming in from the entrance of the tent.

It took three days of travel from Addis Ababa to reach the Omo. First, we flew to Jimma, and from there, we continued by car. Moving from cities to towns, to villages, to…nowhere. On the final day of driving, we soon saw the last of paved roads. We chugged along on improvised dirt paths, obstructed by cowherds and muddy river streams. Our destination? Deep in the jungle with the Suri village spiralling a web around us in all directions. There we were, living amongst the Suri people in the Omo Valley, experiencing their way of life, immersed in their daily routine. Discovering what raw existence really means.

In the Omo Valley, it feels as if time has no meaning. Days, months, seasons, and years are irrelevant in this timeless corner of the world.