Seconded By: Lars Boering,
‘Flow of Resilience’ captures the symbiotic relationship between the people of the Amazonian Region in Peru and the rivers that traverse their land. This relationship can be understood through two key, complementary elements: the physical and resource-based connection with the rivers, and the metaphorical impact of the rivers on shaping the locals tenacity and ability to overcome the inherent challenges of their environment.
As a local photographer, born and living in an amazonian city where a rainbow of faces, cultures and languages meet, I am intrigued by the lack of images and portraits of Amazonian residents where their essences show the spark of spirit that motivates them to move forward.
I aim to show a community that faces life’s difficulties not with sadness or anger, but with positivity and resilience.
Beyond the physical and material importance, the Amazonian rivers represent the forces that shape the character and spirit of the local people. The constant flow of the rivers, moving forward despite obstacles, serves as a lesson in perseverance and resilience. Just as the river carves its path through rocks and rapids, the people of the Amazon learn to navigate life’s challenges with unwavering determination.
Defenders of the jungle
Awajun community members are organized into self-defense committees to protect their territories adjacent to Andean migrants who practice expansive agriculture and threaten their ancestral ties with the forests.
Waters blooming life
Turbid rivers sculpt the mountains on their incessant path descending from the snowy Andes towards the Amazonian plain, nourishing a variety of ecosystems that sustain the great Amazonian biodiversity.
Paths of reflections
River navigation is the main means of access and communication, the complicated solid terrain of the jungle and the lack of road infrastructure makes traveling through its waters inevitable, sometimes at the expense of the inclemency of the sun.
Identity, unity and pride dancing through difficulties
This dance performance that involves women and men, imitates the movements of the snake and is led by the oldest member of the group, requiring the crossing of hands between the participants, giving a meaning of union of brothers and sisters.
Performed by native members of the Yanesha Artisan and cultural association, a group created to generate spaces for development and communal growth in localities afflicted by the latent proximity to the sphere of influence of the drug trade.
Splashes of youthful joy
Rivers play a central role in the social development of children and youth, a space for enjoyment and playground, but its integrity and health is fragile in the face of frequent contamination by oil spills, mine tailings, and urban waste.
Dangers of change
The natural cycles of flooding and drought in the lower Amazon, which delimit hunting, migration and trade activities, are being affected by climate change, making it unpredictable and often dangerous to rely on them.
Renewal by sacred waters
Despite representing a large population distributed in 47 ethnic groups throughout the Amazon, almost all semi-urban settlements lack basic services, mainly drinking water.
Fresh water streams are vital for their subsistence, its conservation is essential because they are sources of life and joy.
Nature and character in infinite nuances
It is in the Amazonian woman that the resilience forged by difficulties is revealed most clearly, carved into strong faces and hard lives but with sweet and colorful motherhoods like in this mother, a member of a committee of Shipibas artisan women.
Spirit of resilience
In the middle of the jungle, after several days of stevedore work into the mountains for a scientific expedition, while taking a refreshing and regenerative bath, George feels a beam of light on his face, lost in his inner thoughts he reflects with hope in his future.
Sinuous passage of lives and dreams
Thousands of stories, dreams and hopes intertwine, die and reborn in the apparently eternal flow of the Amazon.
What can we do to ensure that it continues to happen?
