These young girls, ages 11-13, use a paste made from teh tsiambara plant’s roots to beautify their skin. They usually leave it on for 5 days and keep on redoing the process except on market days. The meaning of this process is called “I don’t want to show you”.
These images have been made for the 2010 Prix Pictet Commission, working in cooperation with the United Kingdom based NGO, Azafady, to show issues around land, forests and poverty in this region of Madagascar. The purpose of the images and stories collected here are to illustrate the lack of develoment and Azafady’s efforts to promote sustainable development to improve the lives of the people and how the land is used.