Berber Woman — High Atlas Market Portrait

Description

The Amazigh communities of the Moroccan High Atlas maintain distinctive silver jewellery and textile traditions that communicate specific tribal and regional identity through design vocabulary — the fibule brooch form, the enamelling technique, the facial tattooing patterns that are now almost exclusively seen on older women in the most traditional communities. This portrait was made at the Monday market of Aït Benhaddou village at the base of the Atlas passes, the subject a woman from one of the remote Atlas valley communities that descend to the weekly market for supplies. The silver fibule brooches on her outer garment, the henna patterns on her hands and wrists, and the layered indigo haik fabric create a composite image of Amazigh material culture. Shot at f/2.8 on a 85mm prime in the shade of a market stall, the natural light providing the necessary subject separation from the market background.