Scarifaction

From a western point of view scarification seems cruel and unnecessary but on closer inspection and with an open mind it is a beautiful from of permanently making the skin and in that respect not very different from tattooing.

The methods used for scarification range from knives and glass to stone, the implement used often depends of the shape of the scar tissue you want to be left behind. To cause the scars to be raised infection is encouraged using the juices from caustic plants as this causes the skin to bubble. Different tribe have different reasons for causing the scaring these can be religious to social views and identification. Scarification can also be a way of making people more attractive and can be used as sexual lures.

Although I was very against the idea of this scarification process in the beginning and struggled to watch the videos of the cutting I can understand that for the people of the tribes it has great meaning and that the pain of this process in relation to the life long decoration is largely outweighed. Having researched this further I can see that what amazing designs can be created and the effect is beautiful and something that I could look at for hours, there is always something you haven't seen.

Images taken from randafricanart.com