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Bargain with a stranger. Abandon expectations. Anticipate memory. Travel

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Stick To Your Guns

A Karo Tribesman holds his rifle used for protecting his family's livestock - Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2022

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The Warrior

The scars of a warrior - Omo Valley, Ethiopia

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African Wall Art, Ethiopia, Black And White Photography, Large Wall Art, Fine Art Photography, Mursi Tribe, Black Woman Art, Canvas Art

African Wall Art from Ethiopia is a black and white portrait taken in a Mursi tribe village. The lip plates are worn by women to show streng

Mother's Love

A mother from the Mursi Tribe holds her baby to pose for a portrait - Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2016

Original photography by Mark MacLaren Johnson

www.AwashStudio.com

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Mother To Son

Take care of yourself so you can be a blessing to others. Unconditional love and gratitude is the unspoken bond between a mother and son - Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2020

www.AwashStudio.com

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The Karo Style

Red, white and blue are the colours of the Karo Tribe. These necklaces are worn by women with pride, strength and beauty. - Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2020

www.AwashStudio.com

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The Earrings

In the heat of the day, in a remote desert village the young girl insisted I wait for her. Before I took her portrait she hurried away out of sight. I asked the translator is she shy? I was bit concerned I made her feel uncomfortable, but  I always ask people before I take their photograph.  

The translator said with a subtle laugh - “Oh she’s a typical girl. She wants to look her best for the photo. She ran home to get her favourite pair of earrings.

I smiled and thought to myself people really aren’t that much different wherever you go in the world.

I took many images of her, but this is my favourite because it reminds me of girls and their favourite earrings. -Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2016

www.AwashStudio.com

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Who Are You - Who Could You Be? 

A Mursi Tribe portrait - Omo Valley, Ethiopia

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To Be A Man

Taken during his coming of age ceremony he is just a boy, but about to be a man in his tribe.

Coming of age. Becoming a man. What does it mean? How is it done ? Who should I be ? What do I need to do ? What does it mean to be a man ? So many cultures, millions of years of evolution. So many ways of being

I’ve experienced a few of these ceremonies. The first one I thought, well this is different, but now I think sure why not? If you told me when I was this boy’s age I could be a man if I jumped over some cows I would have said, sure! It’s better than being told - don’t cry - be strong - you can’t be weak. It’s so confusing for a young children. Even adults!

But this boy had so many people close to him, encouraging him, empowering him, helping him. How can it go wrong? If he falls off, it’s like anyone else, anywhere else in the world - its the end of the world. Disappointment. Embarrassment. Shame.

Then you get back up and do it again. Someone may or may not be there to help you out. You get over it. Time helps. Experience helps. Change. Grow. Then one day you say. Yea, I’m a man.

Just don’t forget to help out young ones. Mentor them. Be compassionate. Be true. Just be yourself.

- Omo Valley, Ethiopia

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Wait In Vain

Tears in my eyes burn - tears in my eyes burn. I don't wanna wait in vain for your love. - Omo Valley, Ethiopia

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Why have only one God when you can have millions? - Kathmandu, Nepal

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Unspeakable

We are the inheritors of a million yers of striving for the unspeakable - Phuket, Thailand

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Purify The Soul

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Thailand’s Gods

“The questions of God – meaning in Milton’s phrase “The god who hung the stars like lamps in heaven” – I don’t think psychedelics can address that definitively, but there is another god, a goddess, the goddess of biology, the goddess of the coherent animal human world, the world of the oceans, the atmosphere, and the planet. In short, our world! The world that we were born into, that we evolved into, and that we came from. That world, the psychedelics want to connect us up to… Our individuality, as people and as a species, is an illusion of bad language that the psychedelics dissolve into the greater feeling of connectedness that underlies our being here, and to my mind that’s the religious impulse. It’s not a laundry list of moral dos and don’ts, or a set of dietary prescriptions or practices: it’s a sense of connectedness, responsibility for our fellow human beings and for the earth you walking around on, and because these psychedelics come out of that plant vegetable matrix they are the way back into it.” - Phuket Vegetarian Festival, Thailand

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Purify The Soul

Inviting the spirit of God to possess him - Phuket Thailand

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In strength there is beauty - Phuket, Thailand

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You are a divine being. You matter, you count. You come from realms of unimaginable power and light, and you will return to those realms - Omo Valley, Ethiopia

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Savage Vegan

The Phuket Thailand vegetarian festival isn’t all about tofu. - Phuket, Thailand