Escape to the Spirit of the Amazon
Take yourself off to London’s South Bank this November and drown in the sumptuous colour and images of an exhibition celebrating the Spirit of the Amazon.
What better way to contrast a chilly, grey day beside the River Thames than with the warmth and exuberance of the indigenous tribes of Xingu?
Photojournalist Sue Cunningham and writer Patrick have chronicled their intrepid travels along the course of the Xingu River, a winding tributary of the Amazon, travelling 2,500 km by boat, negotiating treacherous rapids, braving potential encounters with wild animals unarmed, sleeping in hammocks as guests of the communities they visited or camping on the sands of Xingu.
They were the first outsiders since 1887, taking six months to descend the full length of the river, visiting 48 tribal villages in this remote region of the Amazon.
Sting, who first travelled with the Cunninghams to this region 30 years ago with Body Shop’s Anita Roddick, salutes their endeavour in the book’s forward. ‘The book is a timely reminder that Brazil’s indigenous people live under constant threat,’ he writes.
‘In the last five years deforestation has crept upwards again, reaching dangerous levels which threaten to undermine global efforts to curb climate change.
‘This book charts the changes in the lives and fortunes of these incredible people.’
Small and often secretive tribes allowed Sue to photograph their rituals and rites of passage in intimate detail: youngsters splashing in the shallows, elders debating, warriors with bows and arrows against illegal loggers, young men sparring, intricate face and body painting, cooking and dancing, ceremonies of celebration and mourning are all captured with compassion and dignity.
Sue and Patrick, who established the charity Tribes Alive to protect the rights of indigenous peoples, recall: ‘Our hosts on the Xingu River…asked us to tell their story, to show the world that they are one with the forests, the river, the rocks, the trees and the sky…to make people understand that they too are human beings with hopes, aspirations and dreams for the future of their children and grandchildren.
Sue adds: ‘The situation in the Xingu, and in the rest of the Amazon, is dire and getting worse. The Bolsonaro government is bent on dismantling the governmental agencies which provide support for indigenous communities.
‘There are rapidly growing reports of violence against indigenous people and a rising incidence of invasions of their territories. ‘
She says illegal gold prospecting and lawless mining camps have led to spiralling cases of malaria and mercury poisoning.
‘And all of this is occurring against a backdrop of growing issues with the climate.
‘So indigenous people are suffering from a double whammy: immediate threats from fire, violence and land invasion; and longer-term damage to their ability to sustain themselves and their cultures from the local and global climate emergency. They need help, and they need it now.
‘The exhibition will show what we are in danger of losing, the beauty and vitality of the Amazon and its indigenous inhabitants. We want it to be a celebration of environmental and human diversity, not a wake for something we have lost – because we haven’t lost it yet.’
Both Patrick and Sue, who won a Royal Geographical Society award for their Heart of Brazil Expedition in 2007, will be talking and signing their book at the Spirit of the Amazon exhibition at Gallery Oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London SE19PH, November 13-17 11am-6pm. Admission free.
And even better, splurge out on a copy of this seriously heavyweight coffee table book for Christmas, as a present you’ll never want to part with.
- Spirit of the Amazon The Indigenous Tribes of Xingu, by Sue & Patrick Cunningham, is published by Papadakis (@PapadakisBooks), RRP £40. Available from all good bookshops (by order) and online from Waterstones, Foyle’s and Amazon. Authors’ royalties go to the Tribes Alive charity.
