Ivorian artist Joana Choumali had to work hard to find the people she shot for her documentary portrait series Haabre, The Last Generation. Haabre refers to scarification, a custom of making decorative incisions into the skin’s surface by cutting, scratching or burning, once common in West Africa and part of tribal identity, sometimes chosen and sometimes done by force. People who practice scarification were once highly valued, but as Choumali witnesses, in a fast-changing society they are now excluded. “Opinions (sometimes conflicting) of our witnesses illustrate the complexity of African identity today in a contemporary Africa torn between its past and its future,” Choumali says. Salbre S, a retired gardener, belongs to the Bissa tribe from Burkina Faso, and his image is currently shown at 1–54 Contemporary African Art Fair.
