Up close and personal with the many faces of Africa: Amazing portraits of rural tribespeople one photographer captured after spending nearly a decade scouring the continent

  • John Kenny has visited 13 countries since 2006, pointing his camera at the most unforgettable faces he can find
  • Thirty-eight-year-old has seen Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mail, Angola, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso since first trip
  • Beads, shells and animal oils on Mumuhuila girl from Angola illustrate pride women of the tribe take in their hair
  • Young Hamar girl, also from Ethiopia, has neck festooned with hundreds of tiny glass beads and dainty white shells
  • For immediacy, Kenny removed subjects from all context, shooting them indoors against stark black background
  • Photographer was shot at in northern Kenya but experience has done nothing to dampen desire to keep going back

By Tim Macfarlan For Mailonline

Published: 08:04 EST, 26 March 2015 | Updated: 15:22 EST, 26 March 2015

These are the faces of a continent - Africa up close and personal.

The tight frames they are shot in barely seem to hold these people as they stand proud and stark against deep black backgrounds.

The images are the work of John Kenny, a 38-year-old photographer who has spent much of the past decade travelling around south, east and west Africa, pointing his camera at the most unforgettable faces he can find.

There is the young Mumuhuila girl from Angola who illustrates the obsessive pride the women of the tribe take in their hair thanks to the colourful beads, shells and animal oils woven into its strands.

A girl from the Oromo tribe in eastern Ethiopia wears a striking, sequined headscarf. One day she will likely carry an umbrella to shield her from the sun like many older Oromo women.

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A young Hamar girl from Ethiopia
This girl is from the Wodaabe tribe and is pictured in Niger. They are traditionally nomadic cattle-herders and traders in the Sahel

This young Hamar girl (left), from Ethiopia, is festooned with brightly coloured glass beads and dainty white shells. The girl on the right is from the Wodaabe tribe and is pictured in Niger. They are traditionally nomadic cattle-herders and traders in the Sahel

A girl from the Oromo tribe in eastern Ethiopia wears a striking, sequined headscarf
Some of the colours worn by the subjects like this girl are stunning

A girl from the Oromo tribe in eastern Ethiopia wears a striking, sequined headscarf (left). One day she will likely carry an umbrella to shield her from the sun like many older Oromo women. Some of the colours worn by the subjects like the girl on the right are stunning

A woman from the Rendille, a Cushitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Kenya's North Eastern Province
A lady from Ethiopia's Hamar tribe

A woman from the Rendille, a Cushitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Kenya's North Eastern Province (left). A lady from Ethiopia's Hamar tribe (right). Along with the two countries Kenny has also travelled to Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mail, Angola, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso

And there is a young Hamar girl, also from Ethiopia, whose neck is festooned with hundreds of tiny glass beads and dainty white shells.

It seems as if there's no room for any more jewellery but as she has yet to find a husband or have a proposal accepted by her father, there are none of the metal necklaces worn from engagement onwards that denote the social status of married women.

Kenny has travelled round 13 African countries photographing traditional tribesmen and women.

These include Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mail, Angola, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso on an odyssey which began in 2006 when he made his first six-month trip to Africa.

The end result of these years of work in tribal African societies is a book, ‘Facing Africa’, that was released in late 2013. 

Back in 2006, he says, 'at the very start of my Africa journey, I was buzzing with energy having met people of real magnetism just days into my trip.

These young Mumuhuila girls from Angola illustrate the obsessive pride the women of the tribe take in their hair thanks to the colourful beads, shells and animal oils woven into its strands
These young Mumuhuila girls from Angola illustrate the obsessive pride the women of the tribe take in their hair thanks to the colourful beads, shells and animal oils woven into its strands

These young Mumuhuila girls from Angola illustrate the obsessive pride the women of the tribe take in their hair thanks to the colourful beads, shells and animal oils woven into its strands. Kenny travelled through 13 countries to capture intense subjects like these 

This mother and child are from the Daasanach ethnic group in Ethiopia
The man is from the Nyangatom people in the same country

This mother and child are from the Daasanach ethnic group in Ethiopia. The man is from the Nyangatom people in the same country. There are only around 30,000 of them and many are Nyangatom are nomadic, residing in mobile livestock villages that may migrate several times a year

This lady is also from the Nyangatom people
This girl is from Niger and is a member of the Hausafulani people

 This lady is also from the Nyangatom people (left). The girl on the right from Niger is a member of the Hausafulani people

'I was excited by extraordinary people and fascinating cultures and wondered how I could possibly communicate and express these feelings of excitement to friends and family back home.'

Kenny's solution was to remove his subjects from all context, shooting them indoors away from what he calls the 'dull and dusty backgrounds of their immediate environment'.

He adds: 'I started to imagine each of these people in front of me emerging from the nothingness of darkness, with no distractions, hoping that this would provide a real feeling of proximity between the viewer and the person in the picture.'

The result is to bring out the vividness of the colours and the immediacy of the people's expressions - sometimes playful, often intense but always arresting.

Kenny says: 'It's simply the illumination of natural sunlight, and sun on dry earth, that reaches into the darkness of huts and lights up these remarkable people. 

This Karo tribesman from Ethiopia uses white chalk and purple ochre in his vivid face painting

This man is a Wodaabe tribe member (left) from Niger who are traditionally nomadic cattle-herders and traders in the Sahel. This Karo tribesman from Ethiopia (right) uses white chalk and purple ochre in his vivid face painting

A Wodaabe mother and child
A Mursi girl from Ethiopia protects her young sibling

A Wodaabe mother and child (left). A Mursi girl from Ethiopia protects her young sibling (right). The Mursi are a pastoralist ethnic group

This Fula tribesman from Niger is a member of one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa, numbering around 40million.
This girl from the Himba tribe in Namibia hasn't reached puberty yet so she is wearing two plaits

This Fula tribesman from Niger (left) is a member of one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa, numbering around 40million. This girl from the Himba tribe in Namibia (right) hasn't reached puberty yet so she is wearing two plaits

'Sun and dry earth are the only ingredients required for the lighting in my prints.

'In Africa I seem to have made it my goal to travel through some of the remotest areas of the continent where the reaches of urbanisation and 21st century living are barely detectable.' 

Kenny was shot at in northern Kenya in 2009. He and his guide were driving along a highway one evening when they glimpsed tiny white flashes ahead of them and were soon engulfed in gunfire.

Kenny ducked down just in time as a bullet missed his face by only a few inches. 

But the experience has done nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for capturing the rural people of the continent in all their startling beauty. 

Visit facebook.com/johnkennyphotography

This man is also a Himba from Nambia. He is married, so will keep his hair covered for the rest of his life
This man is from the Tuareg people in Mali. They are primarily nomads from the Saharan interior of North Africa

This man is also a Himba (left) from Nambia. He is married, so will keep his hair covered for the rest of his life. This man is from the Tuareg people in Mali (right). They are primarily nomads from the Saharan interior of North Africa

These two Dassanech people are from Ethiopia. The 200,000 strong tribe live in the Omo River valley in the south of the country
These two Dassanech people are from Ethiopia. The 200,000 strong tribe live in the Omo River valley in the south of the country

These two Dassanech people are from Ethiopia. The 200,000 strong tribe live in the Omo River valley in the south of the country

 

 

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