A visual artist vividly portrays the Waorani people’s struggle to defend their Amazonian territory from oil exploitation.
WORDS AND ART Djam Zerrifi
“Soñando” (“Dreaming”), digital art. The dream of two little Waorani girls who see their horizons open up to new dreams thanks to a new school in their community.
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Fragments of Amazonia is a series of digital collages that immerse the viewer beneath the canopy. An invitation to discover another face of the Amazon. Images that denounce, alert, celebrate. Artwork that invites discussion and, why not, action.
Each piece is based on an original photo, which is modified to tell a story. Between desolation, hope, and celebration, each painting bears witness to a contemporary reality that is both so close to and so distant from us.
“Selva 2.0” (“Jungle 2.0”), digital art. One foot in each world. A fragile balance. Cultures that both clash and complement each other.
I lived for about two years in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and very quickly I got involved in local struggles. I was at the forefront of the historic trial of the Waorani people against the government’s plan to open 1,800 sq km of their territory to oil exploitation. I participated in all the marches and awaited the court hearings’ outcome in the city of Puyo, the capital of the province of Pastaza, 250 km south of Quito.
This is where I met my Waorani friend Ené. A few years later, she introduced me to her brother, Meniwa, who fights for access to education in his community, Gomateon, isolated in the rainforest. Together, we opened Gomateon’s first school. It is called Geketa, in homage to their deceased grandfather. The state didn’t wish to help with the project, so we continued as best we could on our own so that Geketa could become a community-led education center where students can learn and flourish while remaining connected to the forest and their culture, language, and identity. After years of hoping for it, the school is here, within the community, as an independent project that opens up a world of possibilities for children while preserving their roots.
Each painting bears witness to a contemporary reality that is both so close to and so distant from us.
During the protests alongside the Waorani, I discovered a community where women are strong leaders. Women organized themselves and took the lead in the battles to be waged.
“Achiote,” digital art. The transmission of struggles and traditions to future generations. The Waorani use a dye from the achiote fruit for traditional makeup and face markings. Here, Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo applies achiote on her daughter’s face before entering the justice court to plead for her people’s rights and territory. This simple yet powerful gesture transmits tradition and a fighting spirit across generations.
The fight against oil companies is incessant. Roads, deforestation, mining, and oil extraction — when one element of the ecosystem is affected, its entire harmony crumbles and quickly and silently disappears. In addition to the attacks made on nature, there are those, more insidious, made on Indigenous cultures, their beliefs, and their traditions. The folklorization of cultural practices, disappearance of languages, and confrontation with new technologies challenge people to live between two worlds or even abandon one world for the other.
The Amazon is a territory of life rich in its people, fauna, and flora. With my works and my association, I wish to echo the struggles being waged by offering a window for the Western viewer and a platform for the Indigenous Peoples with whom I work.
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“Sangre de Oro” (“Blood of Gold”), digital art. Two children play in the river. A banal image that turns into a postcard of horror with the gold rush fever.
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“Burning Angels,” digital art. Two children play carefree on the Curaray River without knowing their world is burning.
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“Sell Sell Sell,” digital art. The threats are multiple and incessant for uncontacted peoples. Even the jaguar spirit can’t seem to save them.
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Support the Cause: Awinkāa Tribe is an independent organization that relies solely on donations from its supporters to carry out its projects. The funds collected are used, among other things, to finance our scholarship program for students from Indigenous communities, our student sponsorship program (complete equipment for children who leave the jungle to continue their studies at secondary school in the city), our advocacy action in France (exhibitions, conferences, awareness-raising sessions, and so on). Each project responds to a specific local demand. To discover our on-the-ground actions and the Waorani community school in Gomateon, our four middle-school students from the Kichwa community in Lupino, or the faces of the winners of the Awinkāa Tribe Scholarship, go to awinkaatribe.org and to Instagram and Facebook: @awinkaa_tribe
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Djam Zerrifi, founder of Awinkāa Tribe, leads initiatives related to access to education and preservation in the Ecuadorian Amazon (scholarships, student sponsorship, help with school openings, and more). In France, she carries out advocacy. Mother of a son of mixed Kichwa and French-Algerian descent, she works to amplify the voices of the Indigenous populations with whom she works.
