Cinta Larga men.

The name Cinta Larga is a generic name created by regional people and adopted by the Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai), because the group wears a wide strap of tree bark around the waist. According to the information available, it is not possible to find among the Cinta Larga something like a self-denomination, a general term for the group as a whole - other than the nickname “Cinta Larga”, adopted by them in their coexistence with Brazilian society. It is not possible to sustain hasty translations, as we sometimes see, of generic expressions like “we” or “our people”, which in the Cinta Larga language are pézérey. The Cinta Larga are emphatic when they say: “We do not call ourselves, others are the ones that give us name”. In other words, it seems to take another to name this “We”, the one who, outwardly, delimits and designates its opposite.

Waiãpi man covered in urucum

Apinaye men.

Women paint their faces and bodies for a funerary ceremony.

Nambicuara woman and her son.

Ikpeng man painted as a bird.

The Waiãpi people live in the region bounded by the rivers Oiapoque, Jari and Amapari, in the Brazilian state of Amapá. They fight for the preservation and right to their lands, which are coveted by prospectors.

In addition to hunting and fishing, the Waiãpi practice subsistence farming, planting corn, cassava and cotton that is used to weave their own clothes. They exchange seeds of different plant species among their villages to ensure a good harvest to everyone.

Part of their daily routine is the painting of their bodies with urucum (also known as annatto), a fruit with reddish pigment that acts as a sunscreen and insect repellent.

In the last photo we can see the Kamuta village cacique (leader) posing along his wife and son, by the Inipuku river. There are approximately 750 lasting Waiãpi individuals.

“The young son of Piraí, in his father’s arms”

Awá people

“Conia, a mother of five, simultaneously breast-feeds her youngest child and fishes in the Caru river.”

Amapirawai, an Awá elder and her domesticaded sagüi.