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Photographer: unknown photographer.

Title: untitled (Deux jeunes filles Mangbetu).

Date: 1939. 

Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo..

Medium: unmounted silver gelatin print.

Size: 24,2 x 17,9 cm.

Condition: very good.

Reference: UNV0522/1.

Provenance: French collection.

Extra: typed note in French and Dutch, with identification, on verso. Congopresse 22.332/502.

Two young Mangbetu girls conversing in front of a decorated hut in the Uele District.

The Mangbetu are an ethnic group from the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly in the Orientale Province. One of the most well-known traditional practices of the Mangbetu is cranial deformation. This involved binding infants’ heads with cloth to create an elongated skull, a practice called “lipombo.” It was considered a sign of beauty, intelligence, and status. The tradition faded out by the 1950s, under colonial and missionary pressure. 

unknown photographer

200,00 €Price
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