Painted Spirits - Yanomami, The Last Free Indian Tribe

Overview

In the vast wilderness of the rainforest in the south of Venezuela, near the origins of the Orinoco, live the Yanomami Indians, the most isolated people in South America. Their language alone reflects this isolation. In the Yanomami language, the term for people and people has its equivalent in the word "nape", which translates roughly as "those who are foreign, urban and dangerous". The goals of the project are to interact with this endangered people in an artistic way to preserve their mystical heritage and draw attention to the plight of the Yanomami. Due to the encroachment of raw material mining into the rainforest, forcing them to retreat ever deeper into their habitat, the existence of the Yanomami is acutely threatened.