2. Foster a sense of real place – avoid just showing a location
The media should provide as much context and ground knowledge as possible, avoiding the generic term ‘location’. Focusing on a general sense of ‘the local’ risks perpetuating shallow global narratives. Promote imagery that is grounded on a community’s familiar understanding and consciousness of their own land. For example, work within a specific Indigenous Territory or land reclamation movement, focusing on everyday life within that community rather than highlighting exceptional and dramatic events.
Today we are fighting to expand our territory (Retomada). We are trying to find a way of jointly managing the Park and the Indigenous Land, precisely because for us the Park and the Peruaçu Cave itself is the home of the spirits (encantados). It is part of the Xakriabá cosmology and very rich in rock paintings many of our body paintings are designs from these caves”
Edgar Kanaykõ, Ethnophotographer and Anthropologist, Xakriabá people, Brazil
We say that photographing is also an act of hunting. And when you hunt, you don't just catch an animal to fill your belly. First of all, it is a relationship that we have with the owners of the forest and the animals, which are the owners with the spirits that look after the animals, that look after the forest, and that look after everything. So when we go to photograph we also ask for permission ... What can be revealed in the photograph comes from this permission, that’s the most important thing. Besides the beauty of the place itself, it is all these meanings that the image can reveal. It's as if the size of the place is also the size and importance that place is for us as a people ... that's how photography can reveal this dimension of what can be seen and what cannot be seen.”
Edgar Kanaykõ, Ethnophotographer and Anthropologist, Xakriabá people, Brazil
Focusing attention on a particular place requires communicating the material, sensory and experiential details, which say more about the meaning of a chosen place than factual information. Produce and disseminate images of natural environments that the viewer can identify clearly with – such as a tree, glade, mountainside, clearing, riverbank, a small waterfall, or manmade structure – avoiding spectacular sites that appeal to tourist expectations. Emphasise the intimate character of the place so that it feels familiar, rather than exotic or distant.
Report chapters related to this principle
What role do images play in colonial histories of land use?
What is the link between forests and climate change?
What are the risks and challenges of producing climate imagery within Indigenous Territories?
Who are the Indigenous Forest Peoples?
Indigenisation: an expanded term
Avoiding scenification
Land use photography: an ethical storm
The power of symbol
Download the full report
Download the full report
This report provides the foundation for this web-based resource. Commissioned by Climate Visuals and produced by Nicolas Salazar Sutil with picture research by Jaye Renold, it includes conversations with Indigenous leaders and photographers, media stakeholders and NGOs in 10 countries.
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