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Portraits of an Igbo Woman in Oweri Province

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Portraits of an Igbo Woman in Oweri Province, 1909-1913.
Frontal view of an Igbo woman from the Oweri Province, 1909–1913. Her direct gaze and the gap between her front teeth, a cultural marker often associated with beauty, are emphasized by the plain background.
Portraits of an Igbo Woman in Oweri Province, 1909-1913.
Side-profile view of an Igbo woman from the Oweri Province, 1909–1913. Her carefully tied headscarf reveals the neat lines of her hair, and a small earring adds a touch of personal adornment."

These black-and-white portraits, taken by Northcote Thomas between 1909 and 1913 as physical type photographs in his anthropological survey, depict an Igbo woman from Oweri Province (now Owerri). The frontal view highlights her direct gaze and the gap between her front teeth, a cultural marker of beauty, with a simple headscarf against a plain background. The side profile shows her headscarf revealing neat hair lines, characteristic of Igbo styles, and a small earring, contrasting with her simple attire.

Community Notes

Onyeka Nwokike

Mar 20, 2026

The front and side views in these portraits show the anthropometric photography style of British anthropologist Northcote W. Thomas. Operating under the colonial government, Thomas photographed Igbo people as physical specimens to be classified rather than as individuals. While his approach carried a clear colonial bias, these records ultimately preserved real cultural details like this.

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