The magazine of the photo-essay
May 2017 back issue
by Valdir Cruz
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
The Yanomami of Brazil and Venezuela make up the largest population of indigenous
South Americans, who for the most part still live according to cultural patterns
developed over thousands of years of residence in the tropical forests of the Amazon.
Some believe that the Yanomami are descendants of the second wave of Paleo-Indians
who migrated over the Bering Land Bridge as long as 20.000 years go, and who then
traveled southward, arriving in the Amazon basin 15.000 years ago.
Contact with the Yanomami began at the beginning of the twentieth century as rubber
tappers, hunters, and lumberjacks penetrated the land. Some researches believe
contact occurred much earlier through the activities of slave raiders as they
encroached upon áreas of indigenous setlement. Perhaps as a consequence, the
Yanomami may have abandoned the resources of the rivers and fled deep into the
forests.
What is certain is that in recente years gold miners have illegally entered Yanomami
teritories bringing sickness and death. In the State of Roraima (Brazil) between 1987
and 1990, as many as 40.000 miners – about four times the total Yanomami population in Brazil – have ravished the
Yanomami homeland. These miners have polluted their streams and destroyed ancestral hunting lands. It remains to be
seen if the government and organizations involved in contact issues today will care enough to assure the integrity and
survival of the health and culture of these threatened people.”
Kenneth Good - introduction of Faces of the Rainforest – the Yanomami/2002
Woman with onchocirciassis, Brazil,1995.
Yanomami mother and baby, Brazil, 1996.
Piloto in his hammock, Venezuela, 1997.
Young girl with onchocirciassis, Venezuela, 1996.
Yanomami woman undergoing malaria treatment, Brazil, 1996.
Little Renata’s portrait, Brazil, 1996.
Little Renata, Brazil, 1996.
Kaobawa’s portrait, Venezuela, 1996.
Feet infested with Amazonian jiggers, Brazil, 1996.
Feet and hands infested with Amazonian jiggers, Brazil, 1996.
Malaria victim and relatives, Venezuela, 1997.
Woman with ashes and tears on her face – a Yanomami mourning custom, Brasil, 1996.
Shapono – interior after the 1980s gold rush, Brazil, 1996.
