Omo. People & Design (7 November 2008 - 3 January 2010)
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© Hans Silvester | Omo valley
The Omo valley, located in south-western Ethiopia, is on Unesco’s World Cultural Heritage List. An exceptional paleontology site on which several ancestors of the human race were discovered, it is rightly named the “birthplace of humanity”. Graced with stupendous natural beauty, it also has several national parks. Now viewed as one of the most remote regions of the African continent, it is the cultural crucible of a dozen nomad tribes that barely survive in an austere environment.
The exhibition
The Ethnographic section of the Royal Museum of Central Africa possesses over 1,000 objects collected from those pastoral people, representing one of the largest collections for the region.
The exhibit offers one person’s view of the nomadic peoples of the Omo valley and of their relations with their environment. It focuses on the esthetics of ordinary, everyday objects and explains the role played by them in a society constantly obliged to adapt itself to the laws of nature. It also describes the new social and geopolitical stakes, and the recent challenges faced by these small nomadic communities.
Some magnificent portraits and pictures of body paintings complete the exhibit. This is all the work of Hans Silvester, who has been working in the Omo valley for several years.
Practical information
Omo. People & Design
Exhibition from November 7, 2008 to January 3, 2010 in the RMCA
More information about the exhibition on www.africamuseum.be/omo
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