Captured with a real sense of authenticity and grace, Macedonian-Australian photographer Biljana Jurukovski shows us the beauty of Ethiopia’s Suri tribe women.
Considered an agropastoralist tribe, the Suri live in remote areas, and still carry on ancient traditions that our small planet is rapidly losing. It’s critical to have people like Jurukovski to document these rare and beautiful tribespeople.
My Modern Met interviews Jurukovski, and gives us a sense of what inspired her to find and photograph the Suri women.
The tribe resides on the border between Ethiopia and South Sudan in an area that remains isolated, untouched by tourists due to the location, lack of amenities, and due to tribal conflicts. With no Western influences, the Suri tribe managed to create their own “Code of Beauty and Fashion,” using only a few elements from Mother Nature. They use colors from crushed rocks to paint their bodies and faces, while flowers, fruit, and branches are used for their hair decorations. Body art is used to connect the people of the Surma/Suri tribe to their surrounding natural environment; it is believed in the tribe that if you are connected to your land you will live a long and prosperous life.
