Photos

Comments

• 

  Anna Garner July 17, 2012 at 2:16pm

  This is an incredibly effective photo.  I had not seen it before just now.  This man is wearing a vestment very like an Orthodox Christian priest, but his pectoral ornament looks more like bozbend or even maybe a flattened hirz than a Christian cross or icon.  Can you tell me something about his identity?  Is he Jewish?  
• 

  Anna Garner July 17, 2012 at 2:17pm

  If I am reading the shorthand title of the photo, it says this is a woman?  She is very imposing if female.  But why would her cape and gown look so much like religious vestments?  Just being curious. 
• 

  Patricia Deany July 17, 2012 at 3:43pm

  I believe that most of the inhabitants of Harar are Moslem, it is one of the religion's great pilgrimage places, the city of 99 mosques. The necklace , to me, looks like a large amulet holder, which would be expected for a Moslem woman. Harrar is a fascinating place, the poet Rimbaud spent his last days there, they are famous for basket weaving and there is a tourist industry based on feeding the hyenas, quite a spicy place.
• 

  Anna Garner July 17, 2012 at 3:51pm

  Fascinating, Patti.  This woman certainly carries herself as being in an important place in the world.  Thanks for your explanation.  I wonder if hyenas could ever become domesticated? ;)
• 

  SARAH CORBETT July 17, 2012 at 4:30pm

  The picture is taken from a copy of Peoples of all nations the full description of this picture:

  PROUD MASCULINE MOTHER OF FIGHTING MEN

  Poised in her doorway in festival attire, this masterful woman of the once forbidden Somali city of Harrar is a blend of warlike invaders.

  Somalis and Gallas and Bedouins and Egyptians and Abyssinians fought and also mingled.
• 

  Anna Garner July 17, 2012 at 4:41pm

  Thank you, Sarah.  The woman and the photographer both convey a strong sense of 'place.'