Joana_Choumali_09

Mrs. Sinou: “I refuse to do it to my children. This will stay on my face only.”

Joana_Choumali_07

Mr. Guemi: “I already wear my identity card on my face. This is the reason why people did it : to recognize one another. But now, this is over. We can no more be recognized.”

For Hââbré, The Last Generation, Ivory Coast, Abidjan-based photographer Joana Choumali captures some of the final faces marked by scarification, the ancient custom of superficially cutting the flesh to form permanent signatures along body. With the urbanization and westernization of cities like Abidjan, Hââbré has gone out of fashion and has even been prohibited in certain areas. Here, Choumali traces the legacy of the tradition as it exists within a modernized society.

Although the practice has existed throughout the African continent in various forms, Choumali explains that members of the region’s Kô tribe implemented Hââbré, a word that also means “writing,” as a means of expressing their identity, of delineating between specific villages and tribes. As fewer people are practicing Hââbré on their children, only people born some five or six decades ago have facial markings. Choumali notes that because of widespread negative attitudes towards Hââbré, “Many people say that if they could, they would erase their scars.”

Choumali had difficultly finding sitters in an urban environment; once she contacted them, many were hesitant. She explains that she ultimately gained access through a tailor and his wife, who connected her with other people with facial scars. Choumali’s sitters’ views on Hââbré vary, each informed by his or her experience, but all of them stand at a critical point in Africa’s nuanced history, living in the present while simultaneously bearing physical reminders of the past.

Choumali is a winner of the 2014 POPCAP prize for African photography. For more, be sure to visit her website.

Joana_Choumali_01

Mr. Lawal: “It is here in town that I am ‘nobody’. In the village, I am a noble; people bow down when they see my face! I am proud of that.

Joana_Choumali_02

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

Joana_Choumali_04

Mr. Konabé: “Our parents did this not to get lost in life. When you went somewhere, you could not get lost.”

Joana_Choumali_05

Mr. Boudo: “It is not easy to hit on girls with that. Especially, the Ivorians. I think it is not very attractive.”

Joana_Choumali_06

Mr. Pousnouaga: “It was like an identity card in my family. Each tribe has their scars.”

Joana_Choumali_03

Ms. Djeneba: ” I used to like my scars; they were beautiful. We used to brag about them. But, now, in the city, it is definitely out of fashion.”

Joana_Choumali_08

Mr. Salbre: “ I do not want this for my children. We are the last generation.”

Joana_Choumali_10

Ms. Martine: “When I was 10 years, I asked for them. I wanted to be like my brothers and sisters, and to show that I am courageous. “

All images © Joana Choumali

via Lensculture

Discover More