Contemporary Tribe

24.02.2010

I started my day with the meeting that never happened. CEO’s, Directors, Business men, they all have this habit. Meet at One, don’t be late, these are important clients, get there, sit down, get told to come back tomorrow at the same time. I’ve never been stood up, but I imagine this might be an inch of how it feels, frustrated, a bit used, and taken for granted…supremely pissed off.
I need to shoot, it’s my day’s goal now. It’s been a week and I think what I am experiencing is some kind of side effect, my eyes need to breathe the fresh air of creativity.

THE CONCEPT:Get African…The art of the African Face Paint. Used for so many reasons it is like a symbol worn openly to express your intentions. Empowerment, fear, the hunt…lets reclaim it. Sometimes it is a mark for a tribal ritual, or an expression of status either way I want to reclaim this element in the contemporary mindset. And what are the signifiers, signs patterns colors…

Black is for life
Red is Violence
White is Peace
Yellow (the color of old bones) is Death
Green (under the eyes) is for empowering Night Vision

But it is all relivant right, to you and what You feel, what you want to represent.
These are all common examples which run through a mass of tribes…and why shouldn’t we reclaim this…Ask the spirits or simply just represent that ancestry. Can we not use this art form in a way which empowers us beyond the physical…taps into our psyche, soothes our spirit and just liberates?

Recently Gloria and I went out, faces painted and feeling beautiful about it. Every dot exactly where I want it to be, small circles touching my brow and moving with its shape and curves, highlights, peaks, my body, beautifully shaped. I am a goddess, peaceful but powerful, I don’t like to be touched by those who do not deserve, and that is what I channel into my paint. I want to look right through your intentions.

And… It was only a matter of minutes explaining our makeup before our friends were after a touch…Why? For the same reason I asked Gloria to paint me…I wanted to feel it. Feel the spirits of that which came before me…wear them proudly and tell everyone what I was feeling. Sexy, Excitable, and Aware of my power….and they did.

Let’s bring it into the contemporary: I want these portraits to show something, The Warrior Princess within, or perhaps the Virgin still inside. Whatever it is it needs to be rooted in the essence of who you are or who you want to be, wearing it for everyone to see and fear, love, respect, sexualize whatever you want.

                                                 
      Rachel Amito      Nancy Kacungira      Rachel Calnan
           Peace                         War                    Virginity

OMG she has gone crazy: No I haven’t! Try it, play make believe if you must but the fact will always be the same, Everything is what you make of it, if you put good energy in you will always get good energy out…

Update:

So I am waiting for the next model to finish with makeup. I am loving the vibes and feelings, I think I want to use these images to make a collection…The contemporary tribe…Feels like thunder…Right now we are making a Warrior Princess…Today I think I’m in Love…

But this is only the beginning, I want to do this shoot again but move away from the portraits…and bring in an element of fashion, clothes and real life situations. Put the viewer into a place where they see the superficial, the spiritual and the self all at once....that is my next project goal…
The end result is what pleases me most…unedited but still capturing the mood, it can only get better from here….





For inspiration check out Incredible tribal fashion, TribalPhoto, Artistic Things