TITLE: BULL JUMPING CEREMONY

The transition from adolescence to adulthood in the Hamer tribes (Ethiopia) is marked by an ancient ritual:the Bull Jumping Ceremony. The day of the ceremony Hamer boys,called Ukuli,must run above ten bulls,back and forth four times,to test their bravery and strength.They are partially shaved,stripped naked and rubbed with sand to wash away their sins. The women adorn their legs with bells and start dancing and jumping.The women get frustrated on the back by men with birch branches,to demonstrate their affection and to encourage the boy.The scars on their back will be the proof of their love.

AUTHOR: Jacopo Maria Della Valle (Italy)

I was born in Rome in 1979 and I was passionate about photography and reportage from an early age. I started shooting during my second grade with the Fujica ST701 belonging to my father, who liked films and trasmitted this love to me.

I graduated in Scenography at the Accademia delle Belli Arti with honors and I developed a great passion for travel photography. I traveled throughout Europe, in the United States, Cuba and Morocco before starting my reportages along Asia: I went to Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, China and India. Fascinated by Asian culture and guided by the readings of Tiziano Terzani, I always tried to get in touch with the local populations to know - and experience - their characteristic uses, customs and traditions, avoiding the superficiality of the tourist traps. For this reason I embarked on long journeys to discover different Asian ethnic minorities, who live in tribes that are difficult to reach and that still survive globalization.

Among all pictures I prefer the portraits, because they give me the chance to capture the history and the deeper essence of the people in front of me. There are people with whom I shared a lot and others with whom there was only a brief meeting, but in all situations I used the camera to make a connection with the other and to try to represent the soul through a poem of colors. In fact, it’s the camera that I often use to communicate with people so distant from us, who do not speak our own language but are so rich in curiosity and emotions.
Through my photos I would like to share with you my passion and the intensity of my experiences, which do not only testify the different anthropological realities, but they want to pay a great tribute to the different cultures that surround and enrich us.