Claudia Andujar: A glimpse of Yanomami life in the jungle

For more than five decades, Swiss-Brazilian photographer Claudia Andujar has devoted her life to photographing and protecting the Yanomami, one of the largest indigenous groups in Brazil.

The Yanomami live in the remote forest of the Orinoco River basin, in southern Venezuela, and around the Catrimani river in Roraima state, northern Brazil.

They hunt, practise small-scale slash-and-burn agriculture and live in small, scattered, semi-permanent villages.

Susi Korihana thëri swimming, taken with infrared film, 1972-74

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Susi Korihana thëri swimming, taken with infrared film in 1972-1974 — Susi Korihana thëri swimming, taken with infrared film, 1972-74

Collective house, or "maloca", near the Catholic mission on the Catrimani river, taken with infrared film, 1976

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Collective house near the Catholic mission on the Catrimani River, Roraima, taken with infrared film in 1976 — Collective house, or "maloca", near the Catholic mission on the Catrimani river, taken with infrared film, 1976

Andujar was born in Switzerland in 1931 and grew up in Transylvania, Romania.

During World War Two, her father, a Hungarian Jew, was deported to Dachau concentration camp, where he was killed along with most of his relatives.

Andujar fled with her mother to Switzerland and then to the US before finally settling in Brazil, in 1955, where she began a career as a photojournalist.

Antônio Korihana thëri under the effects of the ritual hallucinogen "yakoana", 1972-76. Yanomami shamans inhale the yakoana powder, extracted from the bark of the Virola tree, in order to enter a dream state.

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Antônio Korihana thëri under the effects of the hallucinogen yãkoana, photograph taken between 1972 to 1976 — Antônio Korihana thëri under the effects of the ritual hallucinogen "yakoana", 1972-76. Yanomami shamans inhale the yakoana powder, extracted from the bark of the Virola tree, in order to enter a dream state.

Her early photographs experimented with a variety of techniques, including using infrared film, petroleum jelly on the lens and lighting to create distortions and saturated colour.

Yanomami funeral urn, taken with infrared film, 1976

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Funeral urn, infrared film, Catrimani, Roraima State, Brazil, 1976 — Yanomami funeral urn, taken with infrared film, 1976

And she tried to capture the shamanic culture of the Yanomami by creating an alien, otherworldly view, rather than following a conventional documentary style.

The Yanomami burn down their malocas when they migrate, if they want to get rid of a plague or if an important leader dies. Taken with infrared film, 1976

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. The Yanomami burn down their malocas when they migrate, if they want to get rid of a plague or if an important leader dies. Taken with infrared film in 1976 — The Yanomami burn down their malocas when they migrate, if they want to get rid of a plague or if an important leader dies. Taken with infrared film, 1976

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Catrimani, Roraima State, Brazil, 1974 — Yanomami in Catrimani, 1974

The construction of the transcontinental highway in the Amazon, initiated by Brazil's military government, opened up the region to deforestation as well as invasive agricultural programmes.

Youth Wakatha u thëri, a victim of measles, is treated by shamans and paramedics from the Catholic mission in Catrimani 1976

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Youth Wakatha u thëri, a victim of measles, is treated by shamans and paramedics from the Catholic mission in Catrimani, Roraima, 1976. — Youth Wakatha u thëri, a victim of measles, is treated by shamans and paramedics from the Catholic mission in Catrimani 1976

And the increased contact with outsiders brought the Yanomami epidemics of diseases to which they had no immunity, wiping out two entire communities.

Some of the Yanomami worked on the construction of the North Perimeter Highway in Catrimani, 1975

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Yanomami in the construction work on the North Perimeter Highway, Catrimani, Roraima, 1975 — Some of the Yanomami worked on the construction of the North Perimeter Highway in Catrimani, 1975

This situation reminded Andujar of the genocide in Europe and, in 1978, she became involved in a political campaign to create a tribal reserve for their homeland.

Setting aside her art project, increasingly she used photography to raise awareness and support the Yanomami cause.

Their land in Brazil was finally designated as an indigenous reserve, the Yanomami Park, in 1992.

Adolescent with feathers, from the Portraits series, in 1976.

Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier. Adolescent with feathers, 1976. — Adolescent with feathers, from the Portraits series, in 1976.

The exhibition Claudia Andujar, The Yanomami Struggle will be shown at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, in Paris, until 10 May 2020.

All images copyright Claudia Andujar, courtesy Fondation Cartier