These photos were shot in the town of Mekele in the Northern Ethiopia at the local coal and wood market. Eventually they're going to fit into a series that sets out to create a little narrative of life in Mekele. The portraits here were always designed to fit into such a documentary rather than be viewed alone.
Ethiopia is said to have the highest proportion of rural slums on the planet, a level of around 99%. It wasn't really my aim to highlight this statistic though, the shocking images taken of the impoverished famine 'regions' are all too well known and documented. As I've mentioned here before, Ethiopia has one of the highest growth rates on the African continent and Ethiopians are exceptionally proud and aware of this. Mekele is quite possibly the most developed city in the country, although admittedly these particular photos don't give this enough credit. Hopefully the rest of the set will. My intentions were always to show life rather than poverty.
More to follow.
Ethiopia is said to have the highest proportion of rural slums on the planet, a level of around 99%. It wasn't really my aim to highlight this statistic though, the shocking images taken of the impoverished famine 'regions' are all too well known and documented. As I've mentioned here before, Ethiopia has one of the highest growth rates on the African continent and Ethiopians are exceptionally proud and aware of this. Mekele is quite possibly the most developed city in the country, although admittedly these particular photos don't give this enough credit. Hopefully the rest of the set will. My intentions were always to show life rather than poverty.
More to follow.
Technical: Ilford Delta 100, Nikon FM2n and a Nikon-Nikkor 28mm f./2.8
tom i love these! especially the fourth one down - not sure why its just a really profound photo. dani xx
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