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Portraits of a slowly disappearing Ethiopian tribe

The Ethiopian Arbore tribe is slowly disappearing. The pastoral culture of just over 6,000 residents spread across four villages is under threat. Photographer Harry Fisch arrived in one of their cities “almost by chance” in 2015 and noted that, with the advance of “modernity” in the areas they inhabited, they were “trying to preserve their identity while interacting with new influences.” An adaptation that is not free of tension and conflict.

Fisch began documenting the arbor to answer a question: “How can these communities preserve their distinctive characteristics while integrating into a world that requires constant change?” In his work “The Art of Disappearing,” which he published in Exhibiting May at the Tamara Kreisler Gallery (Madrid), he portrays the indigenous peoples as they are in their daily lives, but also modifies the theme through a game of mirrors and then photography intervenes with sentences and poems that they have written, like that of a young woman from this community who speaks about exile and departure.

Harry Fish

“Instead of just documenting what I see, I allow myself to manipulate and change the images to reflect my perception of the world,” says Fisch. “This can involve techniques such as layering textures, changing colors or even incorporating visual elements. These interventions are my way of entering into dialogue with the image and thus also with the viewer.

The power of the image

Using his own photographic vision and a language based on outdoor shots that show the vast colonized African landscape, with individuals at the center of the gaze, Fisch asserts that “every photo, every story shared, is an open window into the lives of these individuals. “. These people, transformed into an artistic element, look into the camera as if they were questioning the viewer, this invisible audience that cannot perceive what is outside the frame, what is there after the moment of capture. But they also fade.

Does this documentary and artistic work conceal a certain amount of imposture on the part of those who pose in front of the lens of a visitor who does not live with them? “In order for fraud to occur, there must be a desire to create a certain appearance,” answers Fisch. “My “models” pose, but I don’t ask them to pose in any particular way. “This approach highlights my desire to capture authenticity rather than artificiality.”

Fisch, a “mature-aged” photographer who was selected by Photoespaña for “Descubrimientos” in 2010 and has exhibited in squares in France, Japan, the United States and Russia, defends that “the power of a photograph lies precisely in its skill. “ Generate questions. The images open a dialogue and invite debate. A truly powerful photograph is one that makes us rethink our certainties and encourages us to explore beyond the surface. In what is hidden in the history of the bower.