Indigenous wisdom and a better future.
Indigenous Wisdom
& a better future.
The Lickan Antay are the indigenous people of the Atacama desert in Northern Chile. The Atacama desert is the highest and driest desert in the world at an average elevation of 3692 metres and areas of it that have never recorded rainfall. Yet despite this extreme environment the Lickan Antay people have persisted for at least 6000 years carving out their existence in the Atacama surrounded by some of the world's most active volcanoes. They have survived as agricultural and llama herding people coexisting with 'Pata Hoiri' the Mother Earth and all it's living entities. They live close to the land and simply, building their homes with earthen straw blocks, the Tamarugo tree and llama leather to tie it all together. Everything is used and very little is thrown away. The Lickan Antay people know that what nature gives nature can also take away. They feel it and experience it deeply everyday.
As the modern world marches on with it's idea of progress it has come to the Atacama in the form of multinational corporations who have come for the lithium deposits of the desert to power the 'green revolution' and the electric cars that we are told will help save us from most adverse effects of climate change. Lithium mining has an insatiable thirst for water that the people, plants and animals depend on. Lithium mining also brings jobs. Tourism has arrived too and is set to only increase in the coming years. The rise of tourism has created economic opportunity for the Lickan Antay and many like Sandra and Carlos the couple featured in my photographs are finding innovative ways to work by immersing tourists into their culture, showing their way of life, their customs, their worldview to the outside world. Not only is this a more enriching experience for a visitor but it means that many of the local young people don't have to leave their allyu (settlement) for the big city anymore because they can earn a viable income while keeping their culture alive and vibrant, persisting still for future generations. In this new world around them the Lickan Antay’s strength for their future is the past, their yesterday. Their histories, their ancestral stories and ways will point them to their tomorrows.
Indigenous people like the Lickan Antay have always lived in harmony with the land taking only what they needed and not more. With all the challenges that mankind faces it's hard to deny that for the last few generations the western developed world has inflicted terrible wounds on the earth in our march towards an idea called 'progress'. We are at a juncture now. We have choices to make and we have to learn to live more in harmony and balance with the world around us if we want to survive on a planet that may not support future generations if we continue on the same path. Indigenous wisdom may be the key to all our futures, everyone's tomorrow.
* :I wrote this after I returned from an international artist residency in April 2022 in the Atacama, Chile with La Wayaka Current a nomadic arts and research residency in remote natural environments with indigenous communities. La Wayaka works to 'develop new perspectives through creative practice and critical thought at a time of ecological and climatic crisis.'
My time at La Wayaka was deeply encouraging in the sense that I saw how a globalized world could be better and could benefit all for the well being of all. It’s up to us to make sure that historical exploitation of indigenous peoples is exactly that. Co-existence.