FAMILY ALBUM (click on the HD button for better resolution) Sometimes you look into your archives and you find photos you never meant to use. Snapshots you thought you would consider and just put on a side. When I reached this Rancheria in the middle of the desert of the Alta Guajira I realized I had to win the clan’s trust first if I wanted to photograph them. This is a collection of portrait I took with the intention of both warming them up and give them a little present. Most of the people photographed here had never had a photo taken before. I came back to the Rancheria the following week with a bunch of prints for them. They really appreciated and let me into their community. I’ve been photographing since then for my project “Cuentos Guajiros”. The harsh, arid Guajira straddles the border of Venezuela and Colombia. Rarely visited by outsiders, due in part to its Wild West reputation is the home of the strong-willed Wayuu. The Wayuu have stood for centuries in the Guajira Peninsula, are great craftsmen and merchants, tireless fighters their historical rights, which have been violated by the discrimination and racism. The Wayuu society has a complex structure is matrilineal and clinical in nature, taking about 30 clans. Each with its own territory and its own totem animal. There are still traditional authorities, and there is a specific form of administering justice, the figures of the putchipu who are the bearers of the word and also to help resolve conflicts between the clans. Within the extended family, the ultimate authority rests with the maternal uncle, who is speaking on all domestic and family problems. Within the nuclear family, the children are led virtually the mother’s brother and not by their own biological father. She plays a very important one can say that is the host and organizer of the clan and are very active politically in their society, are also very active and independent. Wayúu children bear their mother’s last name. the rancherias are the base of the wayuu comunity, where the same family/clan live. Each rancheria is named after a plant, animal or geographic place.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 19:33:00 +0000
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