Translate page with Google

Story Publication logo July 11, 2012

Behind Algeria's Tattoos: A Portrait Series

Country:

Author:
Media file: tumblr_m5y2f2NEDK1rwyz4no1_1280.jpg
English

Facial tattoos, once popular among Chaouia women in Algeria, are now less prevalent. This project...

SECTIONS

A generation of women in the Aurés Mountains of Algeria are marked by tattoos on their faces. Some shapes are alike; others are completely unique to the woman or to the place where she was raised. Drawing from surroundings, from clans, from the wandering and tattoo-giving adasiya, the markings tell the story of who a woman is.

These women, many of them over 70, have witnessed French colonization, World War II, and the Algerian war of independence. They lived their youths in a struggling country but held fast to their own traditions. The tattoos have survived because the women themselves have survived, with their faces to tell their tales.

RELATED CONTENT

Support our work

Your support ensures great journalism and education on underreported and systemic global issues