Conflict and Costume: The Herero Tribe of Namibia
By Jim Naughten, Merrell, £30, hardback, 108 pages, ISBN 978-1-8589-4600-9
Like many indigenous African peoples, the Herero tribe of Namibia has been forced to adapt to the repeated incursions by European powers, and nowhere is this more evident than in how they dress. Photographer Jim Naughten journeyed to discover more about these people, and captured their highly individual style with a series of charming portraits.
To our eyes, much of the clothing seems bizarre. Patchwork dresses encompass near innumerable styles. Men might wear suits, capes or full military dress finished with coloured cardboard. Naughten places his subjects against the near-featureless Namibian landscape, and whether this makes the portraits seem too uniform or sensibly allows the people and clothes to be the focal…