Bastienne Schmidt
In the Name of God

Bastienne Schmidt, a German photographer based in New York, covered several stories in Guatemala, mainly dealing with the ubiquity of religion in Indian communities. Catholicism intinged with native rites but traditional convictions are the target of "witch-hunts" led by the authorities, infiltrated by the Evangelic Church. For many Indians who wish to escape their precarious life and climb a few steps on the social ladder there is no salvation apart from converting to the dominant religious ideology. And on a more general scale, the government continues its "crusade" towards any display of native culture.


Claudia Andujar
Earth Eaters

Until recently the Yanomami people lived a happy life, "sheltered" from our civilization. Since the 1980's, however, with the construction of the trans-Amazon highway and the arrival of gold panners, they are either being murdered or die because of diseases brought in by the White man. One Brazilian photographer decided to fight for the cause of this people, and in addition to her testimonial "before" and "after" pictures she is an active militant at the Committee for the Creation of the Yanomami Park. In 1992 the Brazilian government recognized the right for the Yanomami people to be fully entitled to their lands: naturally, this right is repeatedly violated by gold diggers.


Perspective
Alain Dister The Far West is not what it used to be.


Seen and read
Alain D'Hooghe Two visions of America

About the lastest books by Robert Frank and Eugène Richards.