Tribal Hairstyles

So I haven't really looked much into hair yet, so I thought I best have a look!

 

Hairstyle from the Mwila Tribe,
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/5260740241/

 

This Hair style is incredible, it's actually more hair sculpting than a style. The hair is braided into 4 or 5 plaits, sometimes 3 if a family member has died. It is then smothered in a red paste that is made from crushed red stones, oil, cow dung, herbs and and ground down tree bark. When the paste dries it hardens to create the octopus like tentacles above. This hairstyle is traditionally worn by women in the Mwila tribe. The Mwila women shave the front of their hair to create a higher forehead as this is seen as beautiful in their culture. Beads, dried food and shells are added to the hairstyle as decoration.

 

Mwila Tribe,
Taken from http://thecoincidentaldandy.blogspot.co.uk/
 

The Mwila women wear heavy necklaces, each necklace corresponds to a period in their life. There are different coloured beads for different times in their life, they necklaces can never be taken off, they even have to sleep with them on....ouch!

Take a look at this video where members of the Mwila tribe have their photo taken by a tour operator, it shows many different Mwila tribe hairstyles and dress. Turn your volume down though, its very noisy!

 

 

Himba Tribe,
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/abgefahren2004/5971003550/

 

This is a girl from the Himba tribe, Namiibia. Children of the Himba tribe wear their hair in 2 plaits and when they hit puberty these plaits are moved towards their face and over thier eyes and they may have more than 2. Once married the Himba women can have many plaits all over their head. If a man in the Himba tribe is single he will wear a single plait down his neck but if he is married his hair will be hidden under a turban. The hair designs are created in much the same way as the Mwila tribe, with a red paste being painted onto the designs, however the Himba tribe don't have any decorations in thier hair. A really like the design above as the hair has taken on the form of curly antlers.

 

Himba Tribe,
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/julienlagarde/6200550836/

 

This image shows the hairstyle of a married Himba woman. This hairstyle is kind of Medusa-like, I love the wooly tips of each dreadlock, it looks really interesting.

 

Surma Tribe,
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/abgefahren2004/6354408999/in/photostream/



Some tribes shave their hair off, like this girl above from the Surma tribe. During ceremonies people of the Surma tribe decorate themselves with flowers and fruit, creating a kind of headdress.

 

 

Trials

 

 

In class we had a little play painting fullers earth onto the hair, to create a similar texture to that of the red paste that the Mwila and Himba tribe paint on their hair.

 

 

I then used my Aquacolour palette to paint some Tribalistic patterns onto the hair (Above).

 

 

 

Tribal Scarification

So whilst looking at tribal tattoos I came across this....Tribal Scarification. I have to say I think Tribal scarification looks so much more interesting than the tribal tattoos. It looks like the patterns and pictures have spontaneously grown from within, rather than being put onto the skin. Obviously it hasn't as it is done by scaring but I just prefer the way it looks.

These are some of my favourites-

 

Scarification on a Nuba woman,
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliarda/5019241197/

This is gorgeous it looks like a top made of strings of mocha beads. I think I might try imitating some tribal scarification with Tuplast.

 Shulluk Tribe
Taken from http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/sudan,tribe/Interesting
 

 It is tradition in the Shulluk Tribe to have this tribal scarification along your brow line. It is to show that you are from the Shulluk tribe. It kind of looks a bit like a strange wart formation!

 

Tribal Scarification,
Taken from http://ravenmind.tumblr.com/post/24059011090/tribal-scarification

 

Love love love! this image, those eyes have so much feeling in them and the lighting is stunning, it captures all the detail of the scars on this African woman's face.

 

Trials

Here is my attempt at imitating Tribal Scarification, using Tuplast and my concealer palette-

 

The Tuplast was quite difficult to work with when trying to create just a small blob, as when I pulled the nib away it would create a trail off which I would then have to try and mould back into the blob-like shape.

 

 



Nina Chakrabarti

 

Whilst researching tribal face tattoos I came across Nina Chakrabarti. Nina was born in Calcutta, India and moved to England in her teens where she studied illustration at Central St. Martins and then later in life at The Royal college of Art. What interested me about Nina's work is the intricate tribalistic designs she applies to images of the face and to her illustrations of shoes, clothing and jewellery.

 

Here are some of my favourites of her pieces-

 

All taken from http://noneofthemknew.blogspot.com/

 

soo....whilst looking at more illustrations by Nina Chakrabarti, I recognised some of the designs and realised that I actually have a book by her, namely "My EVEN MORE wonderful world of fashion". Here are some illustrations I found in the book in relation to the tribal theme-

 

 

 

 

These illustrations are amazing, Nina depicts every little detail in these sketches of tribal clothing and accessories. I particularly like the dress above which was hand crafted by the Lakota Tribe, it looks as if there are lots of different embelishments on the dress.

 

Here are some designs that I have done in the same style as Nina Chakrabarti -

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried out aspects of one of my designs on one of my friends. Take a look -

 

 

 

I did the design free-hand however I wish I had a smaller brush to create thinner lines....I really must buy one!

 

 

 



Tribal Tattooing

I'm going to start off by looking at different types of tribal tattooing. People had tattoos in different tribes for many different reasons. Some tattoos were to denote the rank of the individual within the tribe, men were often tattooed with weapons and women with tools of their trade. There were also some tribes who had specific tattoos which signified the family an individual belonged to and also there were tattoos that signified a certain tribe.  As well as this, there were tattoos to show someones wealth, bravery and strength.

Some think that tattoos used to be used as a medical treatment to cure disease or promote well being. This is because one of the most ancient mummies found frozen in the Italian-Austrian alps was found with 57 tattoos, the majority of them corresponding to acupressure points.

 

Here are a few images of tribal tattooing I have found-

 

Mentawei Tribe
 Taken from http://warisanindonesia.com/en/2011/06/titi-mentawai-peoples-eternal-attire/

 

The Mentawei tribe believe that without this tattooing they will never reach perfection; in the earthly world or in the spirit world. Different parts of the tattoo are added at different times in the Mentawei's life. I don't really like the tattoos as visual art but I do like the meaning behind them; they signify maturity, masculinity for men and femininity for women and also certain skills that the individual might have. I like how this man stands proud as if he is wearing his best clothes, he is showing off who he is and what he has achieved through his tattoos.

 



Tribal face tattoos
Taken from http://www.tattoo22.com/facetattoos8.html



I like this tattoo design as it is more subtle, even though it covers his entire face I think it doesn't take away from the person beneath the tattoos.

 

Apatani Tribe
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/61574632@N07/7063758381/

The women of the Apatani Tribe were known for being very beautiful and so they would often get kidnapped by neighbouring tribes. The Apatani women tattooed these markings onto their face to deter the neighbouring tribes from kidnapping them as they would no longer find them beautiful.

 

 

Trials

Here are some examples of some free-hand tattoos that I have tried-

 

 

 

I sketched out my design with an eyeliner pencil and then went over my design in colour, if I were to try and improve on this then next time I would use a lighter pencil so that it doesn't mix in with the colours that I paint over the top of my design.

 

more to come...

 

The Brief

Welcome to my Wild Kingdom blog! I will be using this blog to document my journey through my project - Wild Kingdom! The theme is tribal and physical transformation, I will be researching, testing and developing my ideas to eventually produce 2 make-up and hair looks; one for an editorial and one for a catwalk. I am so excited by this brief, on hearing it so many ideas popped into my head! The main reason why I love this brief more than any other that we've had is because it is so open, there are so many different directions you can go in! There are so many colours you can use, so many textures...to make your work really stand apart from the rest!

 

Here are just a few images that interest and inspire me at this point -



Erbore Tribal Makeup, Ethiopia.
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/3219160471/in/faves-waltercallens/

I really like the contrast of the white against the dark chocolate skin, I find it really striking. Erbore men would wear this make-up to attract female attention.

 

 

Chimbu Tribe, Papua New Guinea.
Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/364366495/in/faves-waltercallens/ 

Apart from the fact that this guy looks adorable, the flaming auburn feathers on his head-dress look gorgeous, as if his hair is on fire! I love the texture in his beard too, it's almost like little snowdrops are nestled in his hairs.

 

 

Chimbu Tribe, Papua New guinea.
Taken from http://www.greenimagebank.com/id/4184437297

Wow! This headdress is incredible, it looks as though a bird has landed there. I love everything from the bright array of feathers to the intricate band of beads across his forehead.

 

 

African tribesman. Taken from http://ethnoworld.tumblr.com/

This is a stunning image, the clouds in the background are beautiful, they really make this picture. The extensive collar of feathers in real earthy tones is what I like most about this image, it feels like a statement of power. The fact that the image is taken shoulders up, with only the clouds, really dis-associates this tribesman from the land he is surely stood on. I see him here as other-worldly, almost god-like.