Joana Choumali’s “Hââbré: The Last Generation” series exhibits at London’s 50 Golborne

In a world where African women photographers are few and far between, Ivorian photographer Joana Choumali’s presence and the recognition of her work globally signifies an important turning point in the space the black women have traditionally occupied in this creative field.

Born, raised and currently based in Abidjan, Joana Choumali’s work as a photographer focuses mostly on conceptual portraiture, mixed media and documentary. She studied Graphic Arts in Casablanca (Morocco) and worked as an Art Director in an advertising agency before embarking on her photography career.

For her 2013-2014 series Hââbré: The Last Generation, Choumali created portrait photographs of individuals in Abidjan, a dying cultural art form in that part of the world. Hââbré is the word for ‘writing’ and ‘scarification’ in Kô, a language spoken in Burkina Faso. Though facial scarification (more commonly referred to as ‘tribal marks’) is not altogether something of the past as people with tribal marks can be frequently spotted in major cities like Lagos, stigma stemming from enslavement and colonial periods has ensured that for many, it is no longer a consideration, much less a traditional obligation. Historically, various ethnic groups throughout Africa have practiced (and still do) scarification in one form or other - from the Karo to the Karamojong, and the Yombe to the Yoruba - for reasons related to beauty, wealth, status, and other cultural identifiers. 

Ms. K. Benin: “People would go in groups to get their scarifications, and I went with my friends…”

In recent times, however, scarification, also practiced in parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands, seems to have become a popular and appropriative form of body modification in parts of the West.

Through Hââbré, Choumali “questions the link between past and present in contemporary Africa and self-image depending on a given environment”. In Choumali’s range of frontal and back studio portraits, that reference ethnographic photography, though the background remains the same, the individuals photographed (all from Abidjan) and their stories are as diverse as the linear and curved designs etched on their faces. 

Hââbré is currently being exhibited at 50 Golborne in London, England, from 26th February - 2nd April,  in collaboration with LAGOSPHOTO.

More pictures from this serie Here.