Gold in Fine Art/People / 2019 / Portraiture / Culture

• Prize
  Gold in Fine Art/People, Bronze in Portraiture/Wedding, Bronze in Portraiture/Culture
• Photographer
  Marina Shacola, Cyprus
• Date of Photograph
  July 2018

Akelio has waited for this day for almost 20 years. At last he can give animals to Lolimo’s parents as a dowry. Animals are everything for the Turkana, an ancient tribe surviving for centuries in the Kenyan desert sustaining a rich cultural identity. But climate change and longer droughts cause both animals and people to starve. Oil discovery poses another threat as the western world now ravishes the land.
Yet, that day in July was a day of celebration. They walked for hours to the bride’s family home to participate in the wedding rituals, so deeply embedded in the Turkana culture.