PLEASE ROTATE YOUR DEVICE

2017

Portrait of Lino Gualinga on the first day of the Uyantza Raymi celebration. Community members often paint their faces, hands and hair with wituk during important festivals. Lino’s face paint was inspired by the rock band Kiss.

2016

Each house has a solar panel for powering the radio and a dull light at night. Besides, the community has satellite Internet access.

2017

Celso Aranda drinks chicha on the third day of the Uyantza Raymi celebration. Chicha is a traditional drink made from yucca. When preparing chicha, the root is cooked for several hours and then pressed into a type of puré, after which it is chewed and spit out, and finally poured into clay jars covered in leaves for fermentation. Chicha is prepared exclusively by women.

2016

Leyli Gualinga plays with an iPad while her mother Marcia Gualinga combs her hair and her brothers watch her. This community is known for its Internet activism. Through social media, it is able to call the international community together to join its fight in protecting the land against the threat of extractive activities. This connection with the outside world has also brought a greater influence from western culture, particularly among the youth.

2019

A young man waits for his turn to take part in the bow and arrow target shooting contest during the Pachamama (Mother Earth) festivities.

2019

Portrait of Imelda Gualinga on her way to Wayusa Net, a hut with satellite Internet connection. This is one of the few places in the community that has enough electrical power to charge batteries, cell phones and computers.

2019

The community works as an open democracy. All the important decisions are taken by means of an open vote cast at the community’s assembly. A Kuraka´s baton is the symbol of the social responsibility that carry the leaders.

2015

Sarayaku girls pose for a portrait in front of the entry to the local government house where the community’s president works. The president is democratically elected in a town’s general assembly and his term lasts 3 years.

2019

A girl paints traditional geometric designs on her foot with a marker. Usually these drawings are made with wituk, a dark pigment that comes from the Amazon fruit of the same name.

2015

Javier Cisneros takes part in a fight in the community’s main square during the Pachamama celebration.

2019

Seat made by teenagers in one of the houses of the community.

2015

Young men during the night dance at Sarayaku’s central plaza during a celebration dedicated to the Pachamama (Mother Earth). This festival occurs every May in honor of the indigenous people’s fight in Ecuador for State recognition of their ancestral lands. This was granted in May of 1992, when thousands of people marched on Quito.

2019

Roldan Manya holds a flashlight in his mouth to free his hands for working at night. Due to their isolation from the national power grid, the Sarayaku community primarily receives its power from solar panels and, to a lesser extent, small gas-burning power plants and batteries.

2019

A boy waits his turn to participate in a school play in Sarayaku’s Central Plaza during the Pachamama (Mother Earth) festivities. His back has hands drawings made with the dark pigment of the Amazonian fruit wituk.

2019

The Sumak Warmi (Main woman) poses for a portrait after her election during the Pachamama festivities. The girls that participate are 18 years old in average. They are elected based on their knowledge of local history.

2017

Portrait of Alejandro Gualinga wearing a hat made from a tapir at the start of the Uyantza Raymi festivities. Before the celebration begins, the men spend several weeks hunting and fishing deep in the jungle. On this certain occasion, they were allowed to hunt a maximum of four tapirs, but they only captured two.

2016

A young man who has painted his body in wituk waits next to a house in the main square in Sarayaku. Wituk designs vary, but males generally decorate themselves with geometric figures characterized by thick lines that emulate natural textures, such as snake scales. These designs had previously served to insight fear in battle, but these days they are used for festivals and social protests.

2017

The community is known for its cyber activism: Through social media, it spreads their environmental message. This connection brings a greater influence from western culture, particularly among the youth.

2016

A young man from Sarayaku on his way to school. The Sarayaku community is known for its Internet activism. Through social media, it is able to call the international community together to join its fight in protecting the land against the threat of extractive activities. This connection with the outside world has also brought a greater influence from western culture, particularly among the youth.

2017

Eriberto Gualinga accommodates his feather crown before the Uyantza Raymi festivities. Before this celebration that takes place once every three years, men go deep in the jungle in order to hunt. They take from the jungle only the necessary for their subsistence and take advantage of everything they hunt: they will eat the meat, use the skin for drums and use the fur and feathers as clothing.

2016

Two men use their electronic devises outside of Wayusa Net, a hut with satellite Internet access. The Sarayaku community is known for its Internet activism. Through social media, it is able to call the international community together to join its fight in protecting the land against the threat of extractive activities. This connection with the outside world has also brought a greater influence from western culture, particularly among the youth.