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Description

lisarali Olibui, a member of one of Africa's most isolated tribes carries a Kalashnikov in one hand and a camera in the other, with which he chronicles the struggle of his tribe to protect their land and way of life. The Mursi are an Ethiopian tribe of fewer than nine thousand people, a nomadic group of pastoralists who live in an area of the Omo valley the size of Wales. Olisarali Olibui grew up in remote Mursiland where, after seeing westerners with cameras, he realised that film making was a way of showing the world Mursi culture. In 2000 Olisarali Olibui went to Australia where he learned English and returned with a video camera, a laptop and a solar charger. He decided to use the kit to portray his people's lifestyle and culture and to give them a voice. And the Mursi certainly have a voice. When Olisarali interviews his people on camera they feel constrained by no inhibition, shyness or reticence. They open up freely to one of their own and the subtitled translations of their comments are well observed and frequently hilarious. The Mursi live in a Kalashnikov culture. Pressured on all sides by national parks and traditional enemies, the tribes constantly fight and raid each other for cattle. For cattle are the currency by which a man's wealth is measured. Thirty eight cows and a Kalashnikov for a wife. They drink the blood of cattle mixed with milk, eat sorghum and corn and pick wild coffee. In the dry season they move near water. In the rainy season they seek out the lushest pasture for their precious cattle. 2010