This exhibition came out of my work as a photographer and documentary filmmaker in a four years project carried out by Corporation Yuak+, a group supported by the Ministry of Education of Colombia.
Our aim was to learn the basic principles of indigenous education in order to apply them in a Western setting. Listening around the “Sacred talking circle” or “Mambeadero”, I understood that the indigenous peoples preserve in their oral tradition the age-old legacy of knowledge and a holistic way of life. Nature, medicine, government, sowing of crops, education, upbringing etc, form part of an integrated package that allows places like the Amazon rainforest and the Sierra Nevada of Santa
Marta in Colombia to survive harmoniously in areas inhabited by them. The seed was sown night by night by the Elders’ words of knowledge, love for life and hope. I was adopted as " Flower from Pineapple Clan " by Elder Nook+ of Muinane ethnicity from Predio Putumayo, and I am also authorized by the Elders to disseminate and share the indigenous traditional thinking.
These photographs and texts aim to share some of the abundance of life and expression of deep love and respect for Mother Earth that these indigenous tribes in Colombia are fighting to preserve for future generations. The tribes involved in this project come from the Predio Putumayo in the Colombian Amazon (Uitoto, Andoke, Bora, Okaina, Muinanes, Matapis and Nonuya), and the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta
in the Colombian Caribbean (Koguis, Ikas/Arhuacos and Wiwas).