The Nahmias Cipher Report

Reblogged from Limeisbetter: Here’s the exotic. Judging by the photos it has a lot to work that would reach the level of Brazil. However, I will put them very highly with 10 scores 6. Carnival is a very interesting and colorful, especially liked the unusual designs on the bodies of the participants. And the provision [...]

Henna is traditionally used to mark important life events such as marriage. When most people think of henna they recall the designs such as those in the photo to the left. This type of design is a “Bridal Mehndi.” In Africa, there is another more painful tradition of scarification; however, in regions throughout the world where Henna plants are grown and cultivated, women have used this plant for centuries to adorn themselves with exotic and beautiful designs, each as unique as the woman who wears them.

Reinfried Marass is an Austrian, professional photographer, born 1960 in Vienna. He started photography at age of 18 after his graduation as mechanical engineer.

His work is internationally acknowledged and awarded at some of the world’s most prestigious photographic contests. Reinfried’s photographs have been published in numerous international magazines and books – primarily covers, full pages, double-spreads or centerfolds.

These Algerian Desert Flowers were featured in a 1917 National Geographic story that documented the exotic beauty of North African people and their religious customs. Unlike the anthropological approach to other cultures, people and countries that primarily exists today, the captions that reference many of the photos in this series ‘Scenes of Orient’ are ethnocentric, paternalistic and colonialist at best, and downright racists at worst. Thankfully, the beauty of these captured moments surpass the limitations of the recorder.

Eritrea (pronounced /ˌɛrɨˈtreɪ.ə/ or /ˌɛrɨˈtriːə/;[6] Ge’ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. Its size is just under 118,000 km2 (45,560 sq mi) with an estimated population of 5 million. The capital is Asmara.” Photos of Eritrean Women by Dawit Rezenè.

Have you ever seen gorgeous, impossibly intricate head wraps and wondered how these beautiful, exotic women fashioned them? Well, when I was a child in Nigeria, these were my very thoughts until Mama Nyiyi taught my mother and aunt how to wrap the “Gele” as this Yoruba head wrap is named.

The Gele goes beyond mere head covering, these wraps are creations of art. This post also contains an instructional video on how to properly wrap the Gele.

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-Chief Last Modified: 22:50 PM EDT, 27 December 2009 SAO PAULO, Brazil – Gabriel Wickbold is a young Brazilian Photographer whose images are intriguing and captivating. This post features his ‘Faces of Brasileiros’ series. Related articles Putumayo Celebrates Carnival in Rio with Brazilian Beat (wholefoodsmarket.com) Totalmente Brasileiro (cortez.wordpress.com) Carnaval Brasileiro Austin 2012 (worldculturesaustin.com) [...]

“This invisibility—this erasure out of the complex history of our life and time—is the greatest source of my longing. As you know, I’m a woman who yearns, who longs for. This is the key to me and to the work, and something which is rarely discussed in reviews or essays, which I also find remarkably disappointing. That there are so few images of African-American women circulating in popular culture or in fine art is disturbing; the pathology behind it is dangerous. I mean, we got a sistah in the White House, and yet mediated culture excludes us, denies us, erases us. But in the face of refusal, I insist on making work that includes us as part of the greater whole. Black experience is not really the main point; rather, complex, dimensional, human experience and social inclusion—even in the shit, muck, and mire—is the real point.” — Carrie Mae Weems

The strength of Parks’ work, resides in its perspicacity coupled with the power of the stories he tells through his photography. It is the reason why doors typically closed to African-Americans during the pre-Civil Rights era, were opened for him. These skills and talents allowed him to work for some of the most prestigious fashion magazines in America, at a time when most African-American photographers, journalist, and models were barred.

Parks’ association with the Civil Rights Movement, and in particular, the two photos of individuals associated with the Nation of Islam; Ethel Shariff, Daughter of Elijah Muhammad, and Malcolm X prompted this post.