ETHIOPIA, BETWEEN DREAM AND REALITY - FRAN MARTÍ - Photography

PRESS RELEASE

FRAN MARTÍ (Spain – Photography)

ETHIOPIA, BETWEEN DREAM AN REALITY Exhibition showing from 26/2/14 - 30/3/2014

Galería Out of Africa Carrer Major, 7 - Carrer Nou - 08870 Sitges (Barcelona) – Span www.galeria-out-of-africa.com - sorella@galeria-out-of-africa.com - Tel: +34 618 356 351

Etiopía, entre sueño y realidad

Fran Martí - Barcelona, Spain – Photographer

Out of Africa gallery of Sitges (Barcelona) presents “Etiopía, entre sueño y realidad” (Ethiopia, between dream and reality), a photo essay by Barcelonabased photographer Fran Martí that will show from the 26th February to the 30th March 2014. Fran Martí is an independent author with vast experience in travel photography and editorial portraits.

Ethiopia, between dreams and reality, focuses on the lifestyle and aesthetics of the Lower Omo River tribes of Southern Ethiopia, some of which are at risk of disappearing altogether. In this reportage the truly ancestral quality of its subjects is combined with the use of artificial illumination techniques to confer an unreal atmosphere that both touches and unsettles the viewer. Mournful yet proud faces reflect their owners' situation of invasion and abandon.

Opening reception: Saturday March 1st 2014 at 7.30pm.The artist will be present and a cocktail will be served.

Press release, a talk on Lower Omo Valley tribes, and aperitif: Wednesday 26th February 2014 at 11am.

Fran Martí, an independent author with vast experience in travel photography and editorial portraits, began pursuing his interest in photography in 1978 combining his day job with his great passion.

The artist understands this discipline not only from an artistic point of view but also as a narrative vehicle not exempt of poetic content, able to portray different realities. Narrative poetry and image poetry are constant coordinates of Martí's work: nostalgia, journey and identity of the individual. A “panta rhei” that evokes paradise in exile.

Fran Martí – Young girls Karo - Ehtiopia 2012 – 70cm H x 60cm W – Light box with led – 5 copies - Signed

“I am instinctively drawn to and moved by the sensitivity and refinement of Fran’s visual universe.

The quest for this special moment in light and darkness reminds me of Junichiro Tanizaki’s « In Praise of Shadows », and brings to mind another Japanese concept: “Mono no Aware”, the beauty of the ephemeral. How rare and difficult, to capture this with a camera while translating the poetry and beauty of

the fleeting instant. This corpus is well-thought and well-constructed, without rigidity or predictability”.

Pauline Vermare International Center of Photography, NYC, United States of America

Fran Martí – Ethiopia – Karo warriors – Ethiopia 2011 – 105cm H x 90cm W – Dibond & metacrylate – 20 copies max. – Signed

Fran Martí – Mursi child with seashells – Ethiopia 2011 – 140cm H x 120cm W – Dibond & metacrylate – 5 copies – Signed

“Etiopía, entre sueño y realidad” is a photographic essay born of two trips to Ethiopia. The first trip was undertaken in the summer of 2011 and spanned 24 days. The second visit lasted 16 days and took place in November 2012 in the company of photographer Juan Manel Castro Prieto. Leaving the capital Addis Ababa towards Arbamich, the journey covered Dorze (tribe of the same name), Chamo Lake, Jinka (Banna and Tsemay tribes), Mago National Park (Mursi tribe), Karo Kortcho (Karo tribe), Dimeka (Banna tribe), Turmi (Hamer and Erbore tribes), Omorate (Dassanech) and Konso (tribe of the same name).

The project explores the way of life and aesthetics of the tribes from Southern Ethiopia, some of which are in real danger of extinction, and focuses more specifically on the Lower Omo Valley tribes. The Lower Valley of the Omo was declared a World Heritage Site in 1980 for the many and significant paleontological sites in the area. It was there the fossilized remains of Omo Kibish were found, the oldest Homo Sapiens to be discovered to date. In this land that saw the birth of our oldest ancestors, there are tribes who live as though they have been

suspended in prehistoric times. Needless to say, the contact with western civilisation has forced them to learn modern ways, however they maintain traditions and ways of life anchored in the past.

In Martí's photographs, ancestral authenticity is contrasted with modern artificial illumination techniques to confer an unreal atmosphere to his subjects. This dichotomy is used to its best advantage to move and unsettle the viewer. Some of Martí's Some of Fran Martí's prints have been included in a book that will be edited and presented shortly at the Museo Thyssen - Bornemisza in Madrid.

The aesthetic of the Lower Omo Valley tribes The Lower Omo Valley is land of the fierce Mursi and their lip plates, the Hamer and their women with red ochre and fat-rubbed skin and braided hair, the Karo and their unsettling body painting, the Erbore women and their colourful necklaces or the Dorze and their fascinating elephant huts, so named for their external appearance.

Fran Martí – Mursi woman - Ethiopia 2012 – 140cm H x 120cm W – Dibond & metacrylate – 5 copies max. - Signed

The Karo people are thought to be one of the smallest tribes inhabiting the Omo Valley with a population of less than two thousand members. The Karo indicate social rank and personal identity with body ornamentation and are considered masters of body painting which they still in use in its most primitive form.

Fran Martí – Mother and child – Ethiopia 2012 – 105cm H x 90cm L – Dibond & metacrylate – 20 copies max. – Signed

Body scarification is practised for aesthetic reasons on women and for symbolic reasons on men to mark the death of a rival or a dangerous animal. Other decorative practices include the perforation of the bottom lip with long nails; piercing ears with striking eye-catching hoops; the use of headpieces with multicoloured ribbons and feather plumes; neck pendants fashioned in all sizes and sorts of materials and bodies rubbed in fat. They decorate their faces in preparation for ceremonies using white chalk in addition to ground yellow mineral rock, black charcoal and red iron ore. The women of this tribe rub a mixture of red clay and butter into their hair. They adorn themselves with many brightly coloured necklaces and metal bracelets. They wear animal skin skirts and tend to perforate their lower lip with pins or other metallic objects. The Karo favour a certain style of raised scar.

The Mursi tribe has a population of approximately 6,500 people. Their attire includes elements of animal origin such as feather and bone. However for their headpieces they mostly use plant elements like maize cobs. For Mursi women, their heavy decorative ornaments and lip plates are synonymous with prestige and beauty. When reaching puberty, young women begin inserting a clay or wooden plate in their lower lip. An incision is made in the lip into which a small disk is inserted. Gradually the plates or disks will be progressively replaced until the required plate size is attained, reaching in some cases a diameter of 18 centimetres. Earlobes receive much the same treatment and are inserted with lobular plates. Heads are adorned with bullhorns, with a stream of metal buckles, shells gathered from the river...

The men are characterized by the white tattoos frequently used to decorate their generally bare bodies. The Mursi are the fiercest tribe of the Omo valley.

The agro-pastoralist Erbore tribe lives west of the river Woyto. The Erbore take pleasure in ornamenting themselves.

Erbore men use an unmistakable body painting design of dots. They also practice a scarification of raised dots on the chest and abdomen. They wear Tshirts and a wrap. An Erbore man may marry a woman of another ethnic group, whether Borana or Dassanech however will not marry a Hamer and nor is a union with a Konso woman seen with good eyes.

The women adorn their bodies with a multitude of

coloured necklaces, earrings and armbands. The girls tend to shave their head and cover it with a large black cloth.

Fran Martí – Mursi child – Ethiopia 2011 – 120cm H x 103 cm L – Dibond & metacrylate – 5 copies max. - Signed

For more information kindly contact: Sorella Acosta sorella@galeria-out-of-africa.com +34 618 356 351 www.galeria-out-of-africa.com facebook : Galeria Out of Africa