How was born the Omo-mania? Omo-mania is the commodification of the body as you can see it in works of...

How was born the Omo-mania? Omo-mania is the commodification of the body as you can see it in works of Hans Silvester which are only parts of its last avatars.

A few days ago I relayed here on [fr] http :/ / bit.ly/14kvH8O a petition to cancel the show of #omovalleyfashion by Hans Silvester the self-proclaimed artist and green supporter...

Many of you have asked me for sources to better understand what it was all about. Well, I suggest you read this paper by Serge Tornay: [fr] http://bit.ly/10BG3B3: “The human body as a commodity”

For my English followers, here is an abstract :
"Starting from the publication, before Christmas 2006, of arrogantly advertised picture books dedicated to the painted bodies of Surma men, women and children, the author discloses, from the recent scientific history in the Lower Omo Valley, Sout-West Ethiopia, the reasons behind the commercial success of such catalogues. The discovery of prehistoric human fossils and the study of little known contemporary « tribes » led explorers, photographers and tourism managers to create an attractive mythology : being one of the « craddles of mankind » that remote part of Ethiopia has supposedly preserved to this day its human populations in a condition of primeval innocence, the « state of nature ». The Horn of Africa by C. Beckwith and A. Fischer, published both in English and in French in 1990, was a important landmark in the fabrication of that mythology. In France, Alain Chenevière pioneered the myth since the mid eighties and developed it in general public magazines. The Omo populations are the descendants of Lucy – the famous pre-human fossil which was discovered not in the Lower Omo but in the opposite corner of Ethiopia, the Afar country. Kara men are the giants alluded to in the Bible, and Hamar women, as their beauty demonstrates, are the daughters of the Queen of Sheba. Thus it is not surprising that the area is attracting crowds of visitors, among whom celebrated photographers, in search « of the origins of mankind ». Concerning the picture books, the author demonstrates that the innocent spontaneity of the Surma painting their bodies is a strategy for eating the bread of affliction, nothing to compare with the profits of the photographers and their publishers. Thus an alleged artistic activity is analysed as an lawless merchandising of the body images of people not prepared to take any advantage from the intrusion of such predatory vanguards of a globalizing world."

Mr. Serge Tornay, an ethnologist, include details in his book with sources, history of the myth of primitivism and of the photographic harassment in the Omo Valley People in Ethiopia ...

This is a must read!

It should be noted that Hans Silvester is not the only one to "capitalize" on this kind of so-called "art" ...

I would like to invite you once again to share this post and sign the petition named "Présidence de Région, Mairie des Baux de Provence: Annuler l'exposition de Hans Silvester sur les nus du pays OMO" (Regional Presidency Petition, Les Baux de Provence Cityhall: “Cancel the Hans Silvester exhibition on naked people from OMO Valley") http://chn.ge/18VutDV

You decide ...but you are welcome to sign the petition!

As to the qualifier "greenmotherfucker" about Hans Silvester and his cronies, I claim and assume!

Check also a few pictures on http://bit.ly/11BDsZj

#hanssilvester   #affliction   #bodycommodification   #tornay