2010/10/28

do we have a future?

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

In the middle of so many debates about our presidential elections, sustainable development, social responsibility...
what would be the real future for Xingu People of Brazil?

Tuesday, October 26, the Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre (Movement Xingu Alive Forever), a coalition of over 250 organizations and social movements that oppose the construction of Belo Monte dam, sent to Dilma Rousseff and Jose Serra a letter requesting that they expose their projects about the controversial dam. It's time to hear answers from these candidates. We can strengthen the process, and let them know that the world is watching signing this:
Petition (english)
Abaixo-assinado (português)

You can also visit the Movement site here and support the cause at their social networks:
Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre

> Exhausted, a Kayapo child, during the Indigenous National Festival.

2010/10/17

Out My Window - interative 360º documentary!

Out My Window is the first major global of HIGHRISE super cool multi-media collaborative documentary experiment at the National Film Board of Canada, directed by Katerina Cizek.
And I'm in!

Highrise is a project about the human experience in vertical suburbs, "exploring the state of our urban planet told by people who look out on the world from highrise windows... residents who harness the human spirit — and the power of the community...". These concepts approximated one of their editors, Heather Frise, to my documentary work at Prestes Maia Occupation (at São Paulo, Brazil), that was showed at this blog (and Flickr).

I contributed with some of my Archival Photos, images I took at the occupation during 2005 to 2007, that are showed on the "Neighbours" and "Highrise Squat", both pieces of Ivaneti's story. Sadly, I was just arriving in China (2009) when they first contacted me asking to make the records and new photos for Ivaneti's story, but couldn't follow them. Another photographer in São Paulo, Julio Bittencourt, that also worked at the P. Maia Occupation and knew the people did it, and his images looks so great!

The project worth a visit! Check it here.
Loved!

2010/10/13

International Photo Biennale "TashkentAle-2010"

Art Week Style.Uz
October 9th - 14th

This a large-scale cultural and educational project of the Fund “Forum of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan” started in Tashkent.

The week started with the fifth International Tashkent Photo Biennale “TashkentALE 2010”, organized in cooperation with the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan and Tashkent House of Photography at the Youth Creativity Palace.

I'm exhibiting a series with 10 photographs documenting Brazilian Indigenous People.
Works of photographers from over 40 countries are presented at the “TashkentALE”.

Events from the Arte Week are at the National Arts Centre, Youth Creativity Palace, Tashkent House of Photography, and galleries and exhibition halls in Tashkent and Samarkand.

2010/09/12

whistles and snakes

A Photographer Showcase about my work was presented by the Culturazzi Website some time ago. At the time, I was leaving to China and didn't published it here. So, just wanted to share here their link, images were a bit distorted from the original, probably to fit their layout, but I appreciated the selection of images they did:

Beauty, Truth, and Sensitivity

I chose this image I took at Nairobi, Kenya, during the VII World Social Forum. A Tanzanian tribal sorcerer and his assistant, playing a traditional dance with a python, at the Moi International Sports Complex.
More dancers and drummers were coming playing whistles .
I can still hear their sound, their magic.

2010/08/09

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

Take a moment to participate in the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.
Send a letter to the White House in support of the United States endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
See this link from the Indian Law Resource Center.

Endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

> photo: Xavante People, at the Indigenous National Festival.

2010/08/07

Shawãdawa

A Shawãdawa men, also knowed as Arara do Acre, was happy at the Indigenous Meeting.

I'm also happy to tell you that after many letters that you sent this week, it finally happened the approval of the Draft Law on Conversion (PLV) 08/2010, at the Brazilian Federal Senate.
After the vote, the Indians moved, gathered at the entrance of the Congress and celebrated the victory, after almost two years of intense mobilization of indigenous leaders and organizations, calling for the end of the participation of Funasa.

With nearly 300 years of delay, the Senate approves creation of the Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health.
A historical neglect should start to be repaired.

2010/08/02

yanomami ritual

For the Yanomami, urihi, the forest-land, is not a mere inert space for economic exploration (of what we call 'nature'). It is a living entity, part of a complex cosmological dynamic of exchanges between humans and non-humans. As such, it today finds itself threatened by the reckless predation of whites. In the view of their leader:

"The forest-land will only die if it is destroyed by whites. Then, the creeks will disappear, the land will crumble, the trees will dry and the stones of the mountains will shatter under the heat. The xapiripë spirits who live in the mountain ranges and play in the forest will eventually flee. Their fathers, the shamans, will not be able to summon them to protect us. The forest-land will become dry and empty. The shamans will no longer be able to deter the smoke-epidemics and the malefic beings who make us ill. And so everyone will die."

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami

Information by: ISA
>> photo of Yanomami shamans at the Indigenous National Festival, Bertioga, Brazil.

Please sign the letter to the Brazilian Senate and help.
They still need many signatures:
Rainforest Foundation / petition

_________

Saiba mais e participe assinando no link abaixo:
Instituto Socioambiental: Saúde Indígena

2010/07/29

yanomami alert

"Healthcare programs for indigenous peoples in Brazil are overseen by a federal agency, called FUNASA, under the Ministry of Health. In Northern Brazil, the Yanomami have denounced an alarming increase in malaria cases, exacerbated by illegal gold mining. Currently, medical assistance is not getting to the communities because of bureaucratic hurdles around the approval of airstrips in the Yanomami Area – something that has never been a problem either there or elsewhere. Indeed, many of the scandals involving FUNASA have taken place within the Yanomami health program. In the Javari Valley, a vast indigenous area in the western Amazon, hepatitis and malaria epidemics are ravaging the Kanamari, Matis, Marubo Tsohom-dyapa, and Korubo, as well as isolated groups that live in the region. "

For these and other reasons, indigenous organizations, organizations on human rights, racial equality and policies for women are mobilizing for what the Senate does not change the Bill of Conversion and vote before the 4th of August, when expiry of the term MP 483.

We hope that through a new, independent government office, indigenous healthcare will receive the attention it deserves.

Please sign the letter to the Brazilian Senate

Learn more and participate by sending the signing the petition at the link!
We need a lot of signatures and we have only four days.
Thank you!

http://www.change.org/rainforest_foundation/petitions/view/indigenous_healthcare_under_threat_in_brazil

>> photo of Yanomami people at the Indigenous National Festival, Bertioga, Brazil.

2010/06/08

the things they said

edited: I had to removed the direct link for this video as it was making the blog too slow.

You can watch this cool video from Survival at this link.

For brothers and sisters.
.
.

2010/06/04

Health and Happiness Project at the Amazon

Open publication

Plateform published a selection of images from the series I took at the Health and Happiness Project (Projeto Saúde e Alegria) during a few days in the Amazon region. There's also an interview. The link above is for the English pages of the essay (for the French pages, click here).

Use this link to see more about the Health and Happiness Project published at this blog.

> Info:
▪ Projeto Saúde e Alegria
▪ Plateform Magazine
"PLATEFORM est un magazine pour exposer, s'exposer, se raconter et raconter. PLATEFORM ouvre le regard et s'ouvre aux talents. PLATEFORM apporte une double vision sur un thème, un lieu, une émotion, une idée."

2010/05/23

Chinese memories

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

Walking at Fuli Ancient town alleys, I heard a music coming from an open door.
It was a small shop at a home, selling lighters, soap, cigarettes, candies... little things of everyday life of the village.
I though it was a radio playing an old Chinese song. Curious, slowly, put my head inside. I discovered that the beautiful song was coming from the her, the owner.

No spoken words, but a body language talk, the lady allowed to shot her portraits while I was fascinated with the magic sound of her handmade erhu, the scenery, it's particular smell, and well... her Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan's 23 t-shirt.
Relaxed, concentrated on the music, almost ignoring my presence, she didn't stop a second.
It was impossible not start wondering about how the fast Chinese development will affect these people, the town, their culture.

The Erhu
The story tells that during the decades of 30 and 40 of the last century, at the Chinese city of Wuxi, a blind street musician was always seen playing an instrument with two strings and begging on the streets. Passers-by delighted with those tunes, stopped to listen.

The artist began to be known as "the Blind ABing". The instrument he played was the famous Erhu, also known as Chinese violin. Even today, whenever people talk about the erhu, they also speak of the Blind Abing, the two are inseparable in the minds of many Chinese.

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

Fuli is a Ming Dynasty town built on the Li River's northern banks.
The village has a history of 800 years, narrow, winding cobblestone streets and ancient temples.

> Alley at Fuli Ancient Town, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.

2010/05/09

little girl

> Village on the suburban area of Guangzhou city, China.

2010/05/02

Exhibition "Education is a right: non-discrimination in Latin America and the Caribbean"

I made this picture a few years ago (2005), during the Brazilian celebration of Children's Day, where the ngo Children at Risk Foundation (CARF - Rede Cultural Beija Flor) developed a series of educational and cultural activities with children and youth in the region of Diadema, periphery of Sao Paulo.

This picture and the following two images, relating to the same topic, will participate this month in an exhibition that depicts the diversity within the school environment in Latin America and Caribbean.

"Held by CLADE in the campaign for non-discrimination in education, the traveling exhibit will bring together 36 images captured in different countries.

Give visibility to the issue of discrimination in education is crucial in order to recognize its existence and to think of ways to overcome this reality. In Brazil, for example, 97% of people recognize have some kind of prejudice against different groups in the school environment (FIFE). Thinking about it, CLADE held at the Memorial da América Latina a photographic exhibition in May.

With the theme "Education is a Right: the Non-Discrimination in Latin America and the Caribbean", the exhibition curated by photographer Maíra Soares, which brought together 36 images by clicking the various countries of Latin America and the Caribbean by names such as Brazilian photographer Gilvan Barreto and Argentina's Néstor López. The launch of the show, May 3rd, follows the opening of the 6th Assembly of CLADE.

The realization of the right to education for indigenous and Afro-descended, by people with disabilities, persons deprived of their liberty, pregnant teenagers and adults as well as the contexts of the field and on the periphery of cities are represented through the images. Wins highlighted the current situation in Haiti.
"The pictures show scenes of everyday school life in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, giving visibility to the reality of groups and individuals who have been systematically discriminated against, in and out of education. Thus, while the exhibition wants to celebrate the difference, you also want to point out the challenges that remain, even 10 years after the commitments to Education for All signed in Dakar, so that the right to education is realized for all people" says Camilla Croso, general coordinator of CLADE.

On May 6, from 10am to 12pm, the event has the participation of the UN's special rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz, receiving the public, especially students and tutors, for a discussion of the topic discrimination in education.

In theaters until May 29, the exhibition is touring and will be displayed later in other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean."
(text: website from CLADE campaign)

Exhibition:
"Education is a right: non-discrimination in Latin America and the Caribbean"
At the Memorial of Latin America from 3 to 29, May, 2010.

Other images from this exhibition and media news (Brazilian links):
• Exposição discute discriminação na educação na América Latina e Caribe - Notícias R7
• Encontro debate educação na América Latina e Caribe - Educação IG
• Exposição mostra a realidade das escolas da América Latina - Educação UOL

2010/04/10

EARTH Issue

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

Global issues through the eyes of women.

I loved this cover, entitled EARTH - Transforming Energy.
This issue of World Pulse Magazine brings a closer look at women transforming the environmental movement, women leaders who are courageously combating environmental degradation to save their homelands. It comes with the article: Daughter of the Amazon, Marina Silva.

Maria Xerente, the indigenous lady posing for this portrait made a conscious speech at the last cultural Festival at Bertioga.
It was about Respect.
Her words led us to the sense of respect for elders, those who came before and throw light ahead.

Wisdom.

"It is the marriage between tradition and modernity, between city and forest, sky and earth that will make Brazil into the nation we seek."
Marina Silva to Tierramérica

Respect, a key to marriages, relationships, balance of people and Earth.

2010/02/23

natural lotus feet

Until the early 1930's was still possible to find a large majority of women in middle age living with visible effects of the Lotus shoes practice, where the feet were heavily bandaged to limit their growth. Known as Lotus shoes, this social practice began in the Chinese court in the twelfth century, and then reproduced by the peasant masses who imitated the elite.

This subjection of women, very painful and disabling, generated a high-cost mental, social, and that somehow reminded me of the beauty standards that are still imposed by our actual society on women, eight centuries later.

> delicate natural feet on sandals, at a village on the suburban area of Guangzhou city, China.

> Through the door of the temple, village on the suburban area of Guangzhou city, China.

2010/02/15

Happy Chinese Tiger New Year!

Local Opera at the village, around Guangzhou, China.

2010/02/01

charming smile

Fans enjoy a long history of about 3 thousand years in China.
The Chinese Fan is the part of the principal section of traditional Chinese folk custom that became part of the social status for the Chinese people.

> Village on the suburban area of Guangzhou city, China.

2010/01/28

daily talk beside ghost catchers

It was a clear feeling that the worlds of myth and reality
have never demanded a clear separation in China.

Red is everywhere in Chinese culture and is the color of celebration. Red banners, from the past Spring Festival, hanged on each side and top of the door, creates the symbolic gateway on the house and add meanings of joy, luck and passion, with written messages that are usually intended to keep the bad spirits away and bring luck into the house.

Some also stick directly on their door the image of the “door god” (men2 shen2 / 门神 ), as ghost catchers, to make sure that bad spirits could not get into the house.

> Village on the suburban area of Guangzhou city, China.

2010/01/14

wishes

China colorized my imaginary world for a long long time. Mythic dragons, ancient history, tea, exotic spicy food, red lights, wisdom, yin yang, Taoism, Buddhism, golden signs, all beside a strong social/political regime, sustainable environmental quests, a still sexist society, human rights hard challenges, and a huge economic development of a massive population... in many ways so different, so complex, and so new for me.

2009 was such a rushed year, Chinese year of the Bull, meaning the prosperity that comes from the strong and the hard work, and luckily I got some of that.
In 2010 I hope to have better chances to share much more experiences here, with old and new friends, and I wish you all a great year of Tiger, with courage and passion on your purposes.

> village's temple around the suburban area of Guangzhou (Canton), China.