STOLEN BEAUTY - Portrait of a fading tradition

The isolated mountains of Burma's Chin-State are home to a number of hill tribes that have been seperated from modern world for centuries. Chin-Women used to follow the thousand year old tradition of tattooing their faces.

According to an old legend a Burmese king once displaced a beautiful Chin-girl and made her his wife. The unhappy girl managed to escpae and tried to make her way back home. In order not to get caught again she disquised herself by making incisions in her beautiful face using a knife. Myth or truth, the adoption of facial tattoos became part of the Chin's culture nearly thousand years ago.

Today the Chin consist of various sub-groups distinguished only by the women's facial tattoos as well as differences in their language. The mountainous region of Chin-state is one of the poorest and most isolated regions of Burma. Some areas are still inaccessible. Malnutrition, childhood mortality and the risk of women to die in childbed are tremendous. The work of NGOs, the construction of streets and the implementation of govermental action could bring an improvement ot the people's living and health standard.

Nevertheless inhabitants also fear too much influence from government and the outside world.

The tradition of facial tattoos has official been banned by the government in the 1960s but continued in the past due to the isolation of the mountainous area. Today modernity has reached the are along with government and NGO workers. Most Chin-girls see the fading custom as an unattractive relic of the past.

Soon this thousand year old tradition will be gone forever.