Eritrean-Ethiopian Studio Photography collection
place: label: Place
content: Asmara (Ethiopia)
label: Place
content: Africa
label: Place
content: Eritrea, -- Asmara region, -- Āsmera (Asmara)
topic: label: Topic
content: Sandals
label: Topic
content: Fashion -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Backdrops
label: Topic
content: Hairstyles -- Africa
abstract: label: Summary
content: Portrait photographs taken in a photographic studio in Asmara, Ethiopia, during the 1980s and 1990s.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: In 1936, Italy's public film agency, Istituto Luce, sent Raffaello Bini to Ethiopia to document the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. He was based in the Asmara region of present-day Eritrea. 

Rather than returning to Italy after the war, Bini settled in Asmara and opened a photography and optical store, called Foto Ottica Bini. He imported and sold Leica cameras and developed Kodak film for Italian expatriates. Over time, Bini expanded to sell optical frames and sunglasses, as well as plastic sandals, known as shidda in Arabic. The sandal manufacturing operation grew into a major enterprise by 1956, becoming the Bini Shoe factory.

In 1974, Bini and his family returned to Italy, following the Ethiopian Revolution and rise of Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 14 Photographic prints (color, 4 x 6 in. )
label: Extent
content: 1 Photographic print (black & white, 3.5 x 2.15 in.)
label: Extent
content: 1 Volume
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1980s-1990s
container: label: Container
content: Volume 1
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.1997-023
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Volumes
label: Type
content: Studio portraits
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Images indexed by negative number.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographic prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Studio portraits
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Most of the studio portraits were likely taken by an unknown photographer around 1992, when Raffaello Bini sent a small photography lab to Asmara, Ethiopia. There is no additional information about the photographer(s) or the sitters, however their sandals and clothing style suggest that some were a part of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). The images are printed on Kodak paper and stamped with "City Color." The one black and white photograph was taken in 1980 and has scalloped edges. In each print, there are colorful painted backgrounds.