In 2001, Tribalfaces.com started as a long-term art photography project to portrait tribal women with traditional facial tattoos that can still be found in very remote areas of Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar (Burma). Hardly any photographic documentation exists about this vanishing aspect of female tribal body art and therefore, when meeting a women with a tattoo in her face for the first time in Burma, I decided to make it a photographic quest.

Over time, not only a unique portfolio of images (a small selection on display only) evolved - a photobook is currently in production - but also the idea to expand the scope of the project and incorporate an element of sustainability.

Together with a local entrepreneur family and the help of a Chin community, a small guest lodge entirely made out of bamboo has been built on the banks of the Lemro River which meanders through Rhakine State, the heartland of the Laytoo Chin tribe.

Furthermore, a weaving initiative has been kicked off in several villages to help preserve an ancient custom and provide a regular income for local families. The weaving material, hard to get for remote villages, is provided and all the weaving purchased at a fair price for re-selling it to tourists. A fair share of the re-sell margin is re-invested into medical care activities to help villages which are far away from medical care units and hospitals.

Tribalfaces.com is therefore not any longer a name for a unique project of art photography but a holistic approach combining a visual experience as well as a unique travel experience which starts to focus on supporting local tribal economies and at the same time provides an enlightening learning experience to foreign visitors.

If you like to learn more about how to make Tribalfaces.com part of your travel experience in Myanmar, please get in touch.

March 2006