I came across these striking photographs that Jim Naughten took of Herero tribe members of Namibia. Back in the day Rhenish missionaries set about converting and clothing Herero people after European fashion. Over time, this became a Herero tradition, and continuing to dress in this manner was a great source of pride to the wearer. Below are a series of portraits Jim has taken of some of the modern day tribesmen and woman.
– Each image, a portrait of Herero tribe members of Namibia, reveals a material culture that harkens the region’s tumultuous past: residents wear Victorian era dresses and paramilitary costume as a direct result and documentation of its early 20th century German colonization.
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I salute with respect the incredible strength and adaptation by the Herero people, in order to survive the brutalization by Germans in the 19th century.