One of the most beautiful, striking and moving projects has been the photo exhibition, which we had the pleasure of inaugurating at CBIDSI (San Borja) on 8 July. This exhibition showcased part of the Tsimane’ people’s biocultural heritage through 135 images. We combined historical photographs from 1952 – which our Tsimane’ colleagues had never seen before – with images taken in 2025 and 2026 by community members in their own communities (see the news item on photovoice).
Through these images (past and present), we opened a dialogue on how cultural practices, which are linked to traditional knowledge, plants, animals and other elements of the territory, have changed over time; and, above all, we celebrated Tsimane’ culture. Our Tsimane’ collaborators, Justina Canchi Cayabare and Bernardette Rivera Canchi, accompanied the visual narrative with texts on resilience and the essence of their culture, providing context and guiding visitors through the exhibition.
The two of us (Clara and Mireia) have learnt a great deal during the curatorial process: from planning and organising to deciding how to display the historical and contemporary material. We wanted it to be visually appealing, but above all to follow a respectful conceptual narrative, as we were dealing not only with photographs but also with the historical, cultural and ancestral legacy of the Tsimane’ people.
We are delighted to have made this historical visual archive accessible to the community that it belongs to through this event, and to have adopted a participatory approach in which the Tsimane’ people told their own story and, on this occasion, were behind the cameras showcasing their culture. A culture that is not static, but one that changes, endures and adapts; and, above all, one that is alive and continues to beat with the rhythm of the Amazon.
