Ethiopian tribe shot wins Fong top photo award

Eye for detail: Fong

KUALA LUMPUR: A dark-skinned child with cultural face painting, securely flanked by the women of his tribe, peeked out curiously at the photographer.

This was the image captured by Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn which won him the best Picture of the Year 2018 award by the UK-based Societies of Photographers.

He had been visiting the Suri tribe in south western Ethiopia and had snapped the winning shot when the child, who had been cheerily running around, suddenly nestled himself between the womenfolk in the community.

He had also picked up two other awards with the photo – in the Child Photography category and the Judges’ Choice for Best Photo.

“The judges had commented that the photo was very authentic, and symbolises that it takes a village to educate a child.

“The womenfolk were looking after the children very well. Sometimes, it is not even their child.

“The three or four women surrounding the child to protect him is symbolic of the community’s responsibility towards the (child’s) upbringing,” he said, adding that modern society has become less communal.

 

The former human resources minister’s love for telling stories via photography took him to the isolated communities in southern Ethiopia, where he sought to display the different tribes’ cultural uniqueness.

Spending a week in Omo Valley in September last year – three nights of which he had to sleep in a tent in the village – Fong was never short of inspiration for his art when he witnessed the many traditions and quirks of the tribes there.

Some of the sights he saw there included women with large plates pierced through their lips, men battling each other with long sticks in what is known as the donga fight and men drinking blood drawn from a cow.

Fong wished for his photography to preserve and capture snippets of the various tribes’ rich, diverse characteristics before such traditions disappear.

“For example, the Ethiopian government is intending to build a huge highway there and once it is built, many of these traditions would slowly die off.

“So I wish to capture these shots before they are eroded,” he said.

Another photograph of the Dayabumi Complex also landed him an award in the Architectural category.

The former Star chairman hopes to feature wildlife next and highlight the impact of human activities on planet Earth as he makes plans to travel to the Arctic and also Kalimantan.

“The main concern for photography is to show societal issues,” he said.

“In wildlife, I want to convey (human’s) impact on the environment and climate change.”