Pelts and Belts: Art and Function of the Uniform
By Gary Joseph Cohen
18 Aug 2009
Notions of social status, authority (or lack of), power and purpose, all wrapped up in a shoulder bar or lapel pin. In going through my images, I asked myself "What's the difference, if any, between uniform and costume?" Is one an umbrella term for the other? Do the terms, and therefor functions, work in-tandem?
In the case of the young boy wearing a pelt, the cast of his appearance is anachronistic and in opposition to his preferred sartorial preferences: jeans, printed tee, zipper windbreaker. But he is taken to task at this young age to earn a living, and doing so by selling his likeness to the throngs of tourists who pulse through his country. He wears his costume in the way a policeman does: to show others he means business, and is open for business. He and I entered a non-verbal contract to engage each other briefly and heighten each other's function through a contrast of materials and cultural baggages. His colleagues, plus or minus his age by five, wore similar materials off stage (behind or to the side of my camera). They collectively bring to mind one form, uniform, in memory, working hard to scrape by.
And what was my uniform that day? Cargo pants stuffed with memory cards; white button down shirt opened three from the top to reveal a grassy knoll of chest hair; an army surplus hat to keep the UV from frying my bald head, but also to signal I am a rakish type prone to ramble in tight places; para-hiking shoes for scrambling, again signaling my expeditionary rank; a traveler's tan, signally ditto. Costume or uniform? It's a look I lifted off a snapshot of photojournalist Robert Capa. Where did he lift his look? Some uniforms function across time, unifying mythical lineages from one generation to another. The boy had has his pelt. I have mine.
3 responses
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Megan Green said (18 Aug 2009):
My vote. It was interesting reading the story of your encounter with the boy, as I noticed immediately the clash of two cultures in his clothing. It's also interesting (?) how the traditional garb of indigenous peoples has its original meanings and functions, then take on a whole new role when the economics of tourism come in to play (e.g. the Masai who have their traditions, and now perform their rituals for Western tourists.)
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Simon Kossoff said (25 Aug 2009):
wonderful!!!!
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Dawn Duffield (Deleted) gave props (27 Aug 2009):
Very well written and extremely well composed!!! Bravo!!!
