Omo Valley, Ethiopia, 2023

A young woman from the Suri tribe of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley frames her painted face between a crown of delicate white flowers and a bouquet clasped to her chest. As a woman photographer traveling the world, I have had the immense privilege of meeting countless women whose lives and stories have shaped my own journey. What amazes me is how so many women, despite the hardships of life, exhaustion, and silence, seek out and create beauty.

Over the years I have come to learn that beauty is not always worn, but it is always carried. Some express it through paint and petals, some are forced to hide it, and some embrace it as a form of resistance in a world that seeks to diminish it. ‘Bloom Keeper,’ honors the many ways women preserve beauty, express strength, and pass down tradition.