Red Skin

In northern Amazonia, in one of the most inaccessible forests of Brazil, the Wajapi live an existence preserved from modern influence. Fleeing from white people, their diseases, massacres, and forest clearance, they tried to preserve their identity and their way of life.

Here, painting one's skin red is a way of maintaining a link with a very ancient civilization. The Wajapi have a long history of using vegetable dyes to adorn their bodies with geometric motifs and symbols, the jenipa kusiwara. Over the centuries, they have developed a unique communication system - a rich blend of graphic and verbal components - that reflects their world-view and enables them to hand down knowledge about community life.