Body Arts of the Omo Valley people

The people of the Omo Valley

In the Omo Valley of Southern Ethiopia live many tribes of people who use amazing body art to adorn themselves for enjoyment and as an artistic expression. They use flowers, leaves, twigs and face and body paint made from natural pigments such as red ochre (clay). The names of some of the tribes are the Hamar (Hamer), Mursi, Karo, Arbore and Surma. 

The women of the Mursi and Surma tribes practice a custom of extending their lower lips by making a cut into the lip and stretching it by means of an inserted wooden peg and later on by a clay lip plate. 

As the space between the upper and lower lip is created bigger and bigger Lip plates can be worn producing a unique appearance.  

Only the girls and women of the tribe wear lip plates and the practice is started six to 12 months before a teenage girl is due to get married. The lower front teeth are removed too. Where the mouth would be you end up seeing a circular plate adornment. These plates can be as much as 16 inches in diameter in some women.

The women make their own lip plates and take great pride in their craft. A lip plate is seen as an example of artwork.

The people of the Ethiopian tribes also wear many strings of beads and practice other forms of body modification such as piercing and extending their ear lobes and deliberate scarification of their skin.

The tribal people may braid their hair or shave it off or have combination of shaved areas and parts covered by hair.

The custom of face and body painting in many cases and decorating themselves with plant material and flowers appears to be very much about self expression and enjoyment rather than any ceremonial purpose.

 

They are masters of an ancient ancestral practice, which rather than being part of some religious rite, is a manifestation of "the desire to decorate, to seduce, to be beautiful, a game and a permanent pleasure" -- a true expression of deep sentience, fully integral, still extant in this place which was the cradle of humanity.

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