WUNRN
UN DAY OF THE WORLD'S INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES - INDIGENOUS WOMEN
REFLECTIONS BY PHOTOGRAPHER PHIL
BORGES
Photokunst has joined in celebrating the International Day of the World’s
Indigenous People every year since its inception 14 years
ago. Ethnographic photography and global human rights topics are an
important part of our ongoing work. Our first project was Phil Borges’ Tibetan
Portrait: The Power of Compassion, then, in collaboration with
Amnesty International, Enduring Spirit, emphasizing commitment to
the survival of cultures, where basic human rights are not necessarily
guaranteed. The “Stirring the Fire: A global movement to empower women and
girls, is Phil’ s most recent traveling exhibition. We have asked Phil
to share some of his insight in working with indigenous cultures around the
world.
“As a photographer the thing I love about digital photography is the
ability to precisely enhance the image file that I capture with my
camera. Most editing programs have a reset button that allows me to look
at the original image before I begin changing the contrast, saturation, and
exposure. I want to see what I have improved and what I have made
worse.
For me indigenous people serve the same purpose as that reset
button. I have spent much time thinking about what we have gained and
what we have lost in the path we in the ‘developed’ world have taken. I
have had the good fortune to visit many of the cultures around the world that have
for the most part missed or side stepped the industrial revolution and live in
a way that most of us did centuries ago.
It didn’t take me long to dismiss the image of the ‘Noble Savage’ but I also began to realized that indigenous people are not just an anachronistic vestige of humanity that missed the path to modernity.
They have a great deal of perspective to offer us with respect to our
relationships with each other and our relationship to the earth. I’ll
never forget the comments I heard from a group of high school students I took to
I’ve often said indigenous people are the Ph.D’s of their land.
They not only have to know the flora and fauna and weather patterns intimately
in order to survive they sacralize their land. They imbue the mountains
rivers and forests with spirit energy. Would we treat the earth as we do
if we all had such daily reminder of our connection to it?”
Phil Borges, Photographer
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This Friday, August 9, is the United Nations’ International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.
This year’s theme is “Indigenous People Building Alliances: Honoring
Treaties, Agreements, and Other Constructive Arrangements.” As the United
Nations says, “the theme aims to highlight the importance of honoring
arrangements between States, their citizens and Indigenous
peoples that were designed to recognize Indigenous peoples’ rights
to their lands and establish a framework for living in proximity and entering
into economic relationships. Agreements also outline a political vision
of different sovereign peoples living together on the same land
according to the principles of friendship, cooperation, and peace.” |
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UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples
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