The Nuba have practiced a form of wrestling since 2,800 B.C. Wrestling is an important Nuba tradition that has helped foster tribal and inter-tribal relationships. The Nuba have the longest unbroken martial arts tradition in the world. Francesco Zizola/Alexia Foundation
Today’s photo of the day is from Francesco Zizola’s 2004 professional project “Faultline: the Nuba in Sudan.”
This image of wrestlers practicing their sport with over 2,800 years of history demonstrates the timelessness of the people. The dust kicked up by the wrestlers circling is poetic. Other images from the story show the war that encroached on this way of life.
In Zizola’s proposal, the inhabitants of the Nuba mountains represent 52 different tribes, living together peacefully. In 2004, Zizola saw the Nuba as a model upon which Sudan could base itself, in order to find a way to live in peace after the nation’s 20 years of civil war. This was not to be, and the people of the Nuba mountains today find themselves under attack.
According to the New York Times, “bombing by the Sudanese air force has forced entire villages to retreat to mountaintop caves, leaving fields unplowed, markets empty and people on the brink of starvation.”
To learn more about the current situation of the Nuba, you can see this article by the New York Times, this report by NPR and this column from the Guardian.
