Himba immortalised by British photographer

In an ambitious project, British photographer Jimmy Nelson has travelled the world, visiting 29 indigenous tribes and capturing their way of life before it’s gone forever.

The result is ‘Before They Pass Away’, a series of portraits spanning the globe from the Gauchos of Argentina to Chukchi of far northern Siberia.

Nelson photographed these tribes using a 50-year-old plate film camera that captures these people and their environs in stunning clarity.

On his website, Nelson says his goal for the project was to make an ethnographic record “of a fast disappearing world”.

While he knows that this project won’t save these tribes from extinction in the face of the modern world, he hopes it will help keep them alive and practising their time-honoured traditions for longer.

“I want to show these tribes that they are already rich, that they have something that money can’t buy. I would like to demonstrate to them that the Western modern society is not as pure and inspiring as their own culture and values and therefore it is not something to necessarily aspire to,” Nelson told Feature Shoot.

“Even though I am aware that my photographic document will not be able to prevent the eventual disappearance of the tribes, I strongly hope that it adds to the realisation that by respecting their natural habitat and way of life, we are able to stretch it as long as possible. I strive to create a visual document that reminds us, and the generations after us, of the beauty of pure and honest living,” Nelson added.

‘Before They Pass Away’ is available for purchase as a book.

– www.dailymail.co.uk