Portraits, 1st prize
Laurent Monlaü
Rapho for Geo France
Rapho for Geo France
01 January, 1996
A woman on a road in the south, who belongs to the 10 percent of Mauritanians still leading a nomadic life. Nowadays their herds tend to consist of goats rather than camels. Signaling respect for Islamic traditions, their hands are painted with henna and their bodies are covered. Yet the place of women in Mauritania is unique in the Arab world. In this tribal society of former nomads, where a third of the population is descended from unions between Moors and their black slaves, women can get divorced and remarried and are able to assert their independence through freedom of expression.
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