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PROJECTS

Ashaninka Photography Project

“Sharing their photographs, their voices, their vision”

The Asháninka Photography Project teaches the art of photography to the Asháninka, an indigenous people living in the rain forests of Peru.

The Asháninka Photography Project enables the Asháninka to use the camera as a tool — to allow them a means of expressing their identity, culture and vision from their viewpoint; to strengthen their voice; to expand their access to both give and receive information; to shape their communities; to preserve their cultural knowledge and to conserve their natural resources.

For many years, photography has been used successfully as a way for Indigenous and disenfranchised populations to tell their stories. This type of project allows people to document and discuss their lives, societies and culture as they see them , and acts as a vehicle for discussions about visual and cultural representation. The process of empowerment that develops from such projects also enables societies with little money, power, or status, to communicate their ideas and views to a larger audience.

Through exhibitions, a website and book, the Asháninka Photography Project mission is to:

• Enable the Asháninka to document their culture from their viewpoint
• Enable the Asháninka to record and reflect their strengths and concerns
• Enable the Asháninka to develop a visual archive – including historical documents and photographs.
• Promote critical dialogue and knowledge about important issues through large and small group discussion of photographs, both within the communities and with a wider audience.
• Foster interest, awareness and understanding of the Asháninka, locally, nationally and internationally
• Reach decision-makers, potential advocates and the general public in Peru and internationally.

THE ASHÁNINKA

Background: The Asháninka are the second largest indigenous group in Peru, they live in the rainforests near the headwaters and rivers that feed the Amazon. Their ancestral lands are in the forests of Junin, Pasco, Huanuco and part of Ucayali. Precise data does not exist, but of the estimated 55,000 Asháninka in Peru, internal armed conflict during the 1980’s and 1990’s resulted in massive displacement, disappearance and death in the Asháninka communities located in the Ene, Tambo and Perene valleys in the Vilcabamba Mountain range.

“…10,000 Asháninka were displaced, 6,000 Asháninka died, 5,000 Asháninka were taken captive by the Shining Path, and between thirty and forty Asháninka communities disappeared.” 1

1. Truth & Reconciliation Commission, Peru 28th August 2003 2.8. LOS PUEBLOS INDÍGENAS Y EL CASO DE LOS ASHÁNINKAS P.24

Present: In the last year few years, the situation has gradually improved and the Asháninka have returned to their ancestral lands where they have slowly been resettling. Four years ago, after lengthy legal proceedings, the Asháninka of the Cordillera Vilcabamba were given full legal title to a portion of their lands: Otishi National Park.

Project Leaders: Asociación Cutivireni, Angela Cumberbirch.

Asociación Cutivireni has been working with the Asháninka of the Ene and Tambo valleys since 1988.

Angela Cumberbirch, a New York based photographer, has been visiting the Asháninka since 1998.

Please help
by making a contribution to Ashaninka
or Creative Visions Foundation

ONLINE DONATIONS can be made using Visa or Mastercard > go to donate page. Click donate and type " ASHANINKA" in the memo on the credit card form.

To learn more about this project please contact us at
narobe@mindspring.com