Day of the Gerewol
By acire1
Filters used in this work
About this work
- Author: acire1
- Submission date: June 2018
- Comments (0)
Tools used
Adobe Photoshop CS5, Corel painter & Filter Forge
Author's comments
As I was playing around with Rachel's cool new 'Day of the Dead' filter I struck upon this mask which reminded me of the Gerewol.
As part of a social anthropology study I delved into the rituals of various tribes and became quite fascinated by some of the traditional customs.
The highlight of the Wodaabe festival is Gerewol, which is the world’s most spectacular beauty pageant. The Woodabe tribe is an ancient group of nomadic cattle herders mainly found in the Sahel desert. One mans feminism is another mans masculinity for the Wodaabe men. Roles are reversed for them, the men apply make up consisting of natural pigments. Their faces are painted with red ochre, combined with black eyeliner made of a mixture of charred egret bones to highlight the whites of their eyes. Also matching black lipstick to show off their teeth. The emphasis is on bright eyes and white teeth, which are considered to be the most important elements of great beauty. Elaborate costumes and flaunting robes finish the appearance to impress the judges, who are the women. The women will judge the mens beauty, the prize being years of acclaim and the women may pick a husband, in turn the winners get their choice of wife as well.
