Working as an NGO Photographer in South and Central America
It was 2012 and I had been travelling through South and Central America for almost three incredible years. I had worked with a number of NGOs, photographing their projects which were helping indigenous groups rise out of poverty and oppression. I had seen a lot of unfair and unjust conditions, and the inequality was something I could never accept.
Photographing in The Amazon, Peru
When I arrived in the Amazon jungle, I expected to spend a week or two looking around and then head back out to the coast. I had no idea that the jungle was about to grab a hold of me and change my life in a big way. This incredible region is known as the lungs of the world, but for me in many ways it was to show itself as the soul of the world.
On my first night in Iquitos, the “city” in the Amazon region of Peru, I began researching about the tribes in the local area, and by the early hours of the morning, I found myself caught up in a web of articles, images and stories illustrating the desperate and horrendous situations many of these indigenous groups had been forced into.
Many of the indigenous groups in the Amazon live very traditional (hamonious, beautiful) lifestyles, yet they are surrounded by the modernism and vulnerable to it’s negative impact. I was us all night reading about the exploitation of these people and their once-perfect environment – adulterated at the hands of oil drilling companies, loggers, coca (for cocaine) growers and more. Tribes were being moved on, people were dying and cultures were disappearing.
I felt compelled to do something. I felt compelled to visit as many tribes as I could find and photograph all who were interested, before their traditions slipped further away.
Disappearing Cultures
I believe in the evolution of culture, but I think there is an irreversible impact and problem when it disappears at the alarming rate that it currently is. In our generation indigenous cultures are disappearing at an unprecedented rate, more rapidly than any flora or fauna is becoming extinct. With this, ancient and sacred knowledge is also disappearing – and this is something of a tragedy.
I was honored to be interviewed by Acaté, an organisation working to protect the traditions and environment in the Amazon jungle. You can read the full article here
See more photographs from this project here
