Photographer: Lebied, E..
Title: untitled (Femme Mayogo).
Date: 1946.
Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Medium: unmounted gelatin silver print.
Size: 24,2 x 18 cm.
Condition: very good.
Reference: ELIV1123/1
Provenance: French collection.
Extra: typed note with identification in French on verso. Congopresse 22.334/5.
The artificial elongation of the skull undergone by this Mayogo woman from the Paulis region in Uélé is a characteristic borrowed from the neighboring Mangbetu tribe. It is achieved by wrapping the heads of children, from birth, in raffia cords that are tightened every two to three days. The process lasts 8 to 9 months.
E. Lebied was one of the Belgian photographers who, during the colonial era, worked for the official press agencies 'Inforcongo' and 'Congopresse.