This stunning series of portraits captures the raw, natural beauty of some of the world’s most endangered indigenous peoples.
British photographer Jimmy Nelson, 52, has spent his professional life travelling the globe and visiting tribes who have shunned modern civilisation.
His work has taken him across the world including to Kenya, Ecuador, Thailand, Sudan, China and Papua New Guinea.
One photo shows a tribal leader from the Altai Mountains in Mongolia, swathed in thick fur and holding a magnificent hunting eagle in his gloved right hand.
Another shows a striking young girl, her face streaked with red paint and adorned in tribal dress, from the nomadic Chichimecas tribe in central Mexico.
Jimmy explained: ‘We speak different languages but that doesn’t seem to matter. We are all the same.
‘It’s about being open to the world, with no judgement, no basis and nothing but love for other places and other human beings.’
He continued: ‘If they live in cold climates they use animal skins, if they live somewhere hot they sit under trees in the shade it all depends.
‘I use my cameras an excuse to run away. My favourite thing is sitting on a plane as we leave one world and enter another.’
He thinks we can learn some valuable lessons from them.
‘We’re always thinking about the future but they very much live in the present and at the moment, it’s wonderful,’ he said.
Here are some of the tribes Jimmy has photographed:
Zapotec tribe in Mexico
The Zapotecs were once one of the most important civilizations in the region. Today around a million people belong to this cultural group. Zapotec women in the Istmo de Tehuantepec region are known as Tehuanas.
Chichimeca tribe in Mexico
Langde Miao tribe in China
The Langde Miao people are immediately recognizable for their extravagant silver jewellery. As well as being a display of wealth, wearing the silver is said to offer protection against evil spirits. The accessories that girls and women wear include handmade crowns, earrings and horns.
The headpiece alone can take several months to make.
Mir tribe in India
Many of the women of the Mir community live in the north-western state of Gujarat, a dry, barren province bordering Pakistan. Like many other nomads in India, they are now settled. This mainly Muslim group wear self-embroidered jewellery and intricate, hand-made clothing and line their eyes with charcoal.
Ngalop tribe of Bhutan
Wodaabe tribe in Chad
The nomadic Wodaabe community belong to the Fulani ethnic group, who are distributed across at least ten North-African countries. Chad is home to many of the Wodaabe.
Marquesas Island tribe of Northern French Polynesia
Marquesas Island tribe of Northern French Polynesia
Kazakh tribe in Mongolia
The Kazakh are the descendants of Turkic, Mongolic and Indo-Iranian indigenous groups and Huns who populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea. They are a semi-nomadic people and have roamed the mountains and valleys of western Mongolia with their herds since the 19th century. The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of many traditions and skills that the Kazakh have held onto for the last decades. They rely on their clan and herds, believing in pre-Islamic cults of the sky, ancestors, fire and the supernatural forces of good and evil spirits.
Muchimba tribe in Angola
Mwila tribe in Angola
Korafe tribe in Papua New Guinea
Huli tribe, Papua New Guinea
Huli female tribe members wear a thick net of fabric and her face is painted white; the people fight over territory and pigs and are known to take great effort with their costumes to terrify the enemy.
Huli Wigman tribe in Papua New Guinea
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/15/the-worlds-most-endangered-indigenous-tribes-pictured-in-stunning-photoshoot-12060811/
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