Fieldwork statement
These pictures are set in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, home to four indigenous groups: Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco, Kankuamo.
They show the south side of the Sierra, going up the mountains from Guatapuri, in the community of Sewingui. I stayed in this village for my friend Fiscalito’s wedding. We usually live on the north side of the Sierra, near Minca, but we returned to the family’s home village for the wedding-related spiritual work and ceremony.
My fieldwork looks at the interplay between indigenous politics and environmental politics in the Sierra, and how each one influences the other. I focus on collaboration between conservation NGOs or environmental projects and indigenous peoples of the Sierra, with a focus on the Kogi and the Wiwa.
The pictures were taken with a Leica M6 on 35mm film (Kodak TX-400).
‘Waiting for lunch’
Here, we are in an unfinished house of some Wiwa friends in Pitungaga, on the south side of the Sierra. Adrian is waiting for lunch while his aunt Antonia is cooking.
I had wanted to capture the smoke in the houses for a while, but the houses are very dark and it’s quite complicated to take pictures inside. The unfinished walls allow light to come in and reveal the smoke from the cooking fire and created the perfect setting for this.
This was my last day in the village, before heading back to the other side of the Sierra.
‘The bull’
Here, the kids of the village of Sewingui are watching some adults butcher a bull, in preparation of Fiscalito’s wedding feast in the evening.
One of the kids is holding the bull’s balls in her hand, which are kept separately from the meat we will eat, to be given to the mamo for future pagamentos and other rituals.
‘Angelito’
On the morning of my friend’s wedding, I was sick with a bad stomach ache and nausea. I sat on a stone next to the door of the mens’ ceremonial house (umguma) where I could be present for the ceremony happening outside, while curling up in pain. I didn’t want to miss it, so I waited for the end of the event, then went back to my hammock for the rest of the day to let my stomach heal.
As I crouched there, Angelito walked up to me and struck a pose, looking at me. He was a kid I had been seeing around for quite a few days and who seemed particularly curious about me. I took two pictures of him. Here’s one.
