Vanity of Man

| Feb 5, 2009 | 0 comments

Nicho Södling's unique suite of "fashion portraits" from southwestern Ethiopia are shown for the first time.

From the outset, in 2003, BrittonBritton has been deeply involved in our dear friend and longtime collaborator Nicho Södling's unique photographic project Vanity of Man, which is now showed for the first time, in Abecita corsettfabrik konstmuseum in Borås in southwestern Sweden, 8 February-17 May, with the opening now on Sunday, the 8th. BrittonBritton has designed the graphics for this exhibition, which will visit Stockholm in a smaller scale later this spring. Our firm ambition is that there will be more exhibitions in the future, and, not least, a fantastic book.

It has been something of a disadvantage for Nicho that some people have claimed that they've "seen" this kind of images of "tribes" before, but that is like saying that you've already seen a fashion or a landscape image and that you therefore need not see another. Nicho's images are truly unique in their power beauty and personal presence, in our opinion superior even to "similar" images of completely different tribespeople by immortal master photographers the likes of Irving Penn and Leni Riefenstahl. Claes Britton visited this same remote area, the Omo delta, near the Sudanese border, on an adventurous expedition back in 1989, together with his father. Read Claes press release:

Vanity of Man

Fashion from nothing: unique fashion portraits of people from tribes of the Omo river delta in soutwestern Ethiopia by photographer Nicho Södling.

Time flies, fashion changes, trends come and go. Only our human vanity remains.

Is that really so?

Well, the accute vanity and passionate pre-occupation with personal looks and appaearances was the single most powerful impression that struck Swedish fashion and lifestyle photographer Nicho Södling when he traveled in the remote, previously isolated Omo delta in Southwestern Ethiopia, near the Sudanese border, visiting the tribes of Bena, Karo, Hamer, Surma, Besheda and Mursi - people whose contact with the outside world has been sparse and whose lifestyles in many ways remain much the same as during the Stone Age.

Nicho, whose father is Ethiopian, was taken by how, despite the tremendous cultural differences between these tribespeople and his own Swedish contemporaries, the similarities were even much more apparent - not least in the pure vanity and eagerness to express status and cultural belonging through looks and fashion. In fact, these people, who have very little, seemed if not more obsessed with fashion and looks than ourselves, who have it all. Certainly, their creativity and skills in expressing themselves through their appearances were much greater. No stylist, hair stylist, make-up or tattoo artist could come close to matching the stunning power and beauty of these looks. Our "urban tribes" all appear quite stale, tame and pathetic in comparison.

Nicho Södling has conducted two extensive photographic expeditions through the vast Omo delta, shooting a volumnious suite of portraits of tribespeople. Mostly photographed in classic manner against a white backdrop, all on mid-format celluloid film, his portraits really capture the energy, elegance, pride, urgency, pain and glamour of these looks, allowing the outrageous personal expressions to speak for themselves.

The exhibition at Abectita corsettfabrik konstmuseum in Borås is the first time that Nicho Södling's unique suite of portraits is shown in public, in a series of 52 prints, many in large and some in monumental formats.

For more information about Vanity of Man, please contact BrittonBritton.

Vanity of Man

Comments

Recent news