A visual essay by Alejandra Muñoz Santos
Embrace of the Rainforest
Dureno, Remolino, Pitirishka, Sacha Waysa and Palmas, Ecuador
A vision by Alejandra Muñoz Santos
When living with indigenous communities, you come to realise how much we can learn from them and the numerous vital aspects of life we have left behind in our advanced civilisations. In the end, despite their many hardships, they are free and we are not.
Five communities opened their doors to us to collaborate with them. We, being welcomed into their homes, listened to them speak about their needs, pressures, deforestation and cultural erosion. We helped them build nurseries for every community and worked on their land collecting and exchanging seeds, planting trees. We guided them in permaculture techniques, and with them, we coordinated an ambitious program of primary forest mapping. Being enveloped in the cacophony and sheer density of life in the Amazon was a turning point. Not only a revelation on the exuberance and dangers of the jungle, but an insight into the relevance of regenerating these ancestral territories and their culture.
Five communities opened their doors to us to collaborate with them. We, being welcomed into their homes, listened to them speak about their needs, pressures, deforestation and cultural erosion. We helped them build nurseries for every community and worked on their land collecting and exchanging seeds, planting trees. We guided them in permaculture techniques, and with them, we coordinated an ambitious program of primary forest mapping. Being enveloped in the cacophony and sheer density of life in the Amazon was a turning point. Not only a revelation on the exuberance and dangers of the jungle, but an insight into the relevance of regenerating these ancestral territories and their culture.
This experience has been possible thanks to Yakum, a nonprofit organisation empowering indigenous
communities to lead rainforest regeneration and conservation to combat climate change.
Photos and words by Alejandra Muñoz Santos
Edited by Laura Beneyto
Traveller/s
Alejandra Muñoz Santos
Creative Director & Founder
Alejandra Muñoz Santos has always had an immense passion for images and for the power of communication that they evoke. After graduating in advertising in Madrid where she is from, she turned to a career in photography; from the discovering of emerging photographers at the most respected fashion magazines to being creative director at luxury brands. In 2018, she founded her own branding studio THE SHELTER CREATIVE, to develop brand stories related to cultural and social innovation. Through her own photography, she focuses her interest on sublimating the unexpected and transcending the usual codes.
@alexmusan
