Dominated by the Ol Donyo Lengaï volcano, “the mountain of the Gods,” this remote region of Tanzania is inhabited by a few Maasai populations who live off the cattle they raise and on which they feed. For centuries these families have tamed their difficult environment, almost blending in with it.
A beautiful harmony created long ago and now in danger. A harmony that may soon be just a memory. In these misty and vast landscapes then emerges a certain nostalgia for wild space and the delicate union between man and nature.
These images are part of the series entitled Terre Perdue by the young 26-year-old photographer Éloi Ficat, a travel enthusiast, who is also a cinematographer and colorist in the film industry and whose Luminary, Outrenoir and Éclat series have been getting attention, notably at Vincennes Image Festival and through his gallery, OΔK gallery.
Here, between savannah, large lakes and majestic volcanoes, the Maasai peoples must fight against drought, lack of food, the loss of their territory for the benefit of tourists and the creation of National Parks in which their entry is prohibited, as well as the sale of their best pastures by their government to European farmers.
It is this loss of space, this emptiness and the silence of these helpless and neglected populations that Éloi Ficat wanted to translate visually in melancholic and poetic settings where man gradually disappears despite his desire to live and to exist. Defeated from their territory, the Maasai people are slowly seeing their ancestors and traditions die.
More images of Eloi Ficat here.
