YANOMAMI - THE HOUSE, THE FOREST, THE INVISIBLE

Claudia Andujar gives us a glimpse of the rich culture of the Yanomami Indians of northern Brazil. For decades this Indian tribe has been prey to disasters. In the 1970s the tribe had to make way for a motorway that was being built across the Amazon region. Ten years later 40,000 illegal gold hunters invaded their territory. The labourers and gold seekers brought with them illnesses unknown to the Yanomami, adding disastrous epidemics to their troubles. Andujar devoted herself to the creation of a Yanomami Park, which finally was awarded by the government to the 11,000 remaining Indians in 1992. The Swiss-born photojournalist Claudia Andujar emigrated to Brazil in 1956. In her very first encounter with the Yanomami she became fascinated with their lifestyle and decided to devote a probing photo essay to their complex spiritual and magical world.