2016 / People / Culture (Non-Pro)

Long Neck vanity

  • Photographer
    gianfranco ferri
  • Agency / Studio
    HM photo

Women of the Kayan tribes identify themselves by their forms of dress. Women of the Kayan Lahwi tribe are well known for wearing neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck, appearing to lengthen it. The women wearing these coils are known as "giraffe women" to tourists. Girls first start to wear rings when they are around 5 years old.Over the years the coil is replaced by a longer one and more turns are added. The weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. The neck itself is not lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle.Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested, often formed by visiting anthropologists, who have hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves by making them less attractive to other tribes. It has also been theorised that the coils originate from the desire to look more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women have more slender necks than men. It has also been suggested that the coils give the women resemblance to a dragon, an important figure in Kayan folklore.The coils might be meant to protect from tiger bites, perhaps literally, but probably symbolically.

Born in 1969, he loved photography and travels since he was a child. He suddenly started feeling the necessity of realizing his passions with increasing constancy, trying to catch the depth into random moments of anybody’s life, drawing them as freely and spontaneously as possible. He could also be defined as the creator of a great quantity images, that have nature’s astonishing world as protagonist, capturing impressive scenes tough the reflex eye. Furthermore, as a tireless rover, he realized many reportages during his travels in Jordan, Cambodia, Thailand, UAE, Kenya, Ethiopia, etc....