This is the photographic documentation for the written texts about three ethnic groups in northern Brazil: the Kampa (in Acre state), the Marubo (Amazonas state), and the Yanomami (Amazonas and Roraima states). The author is the Franco-Italian photographer Mirella Ricciardi. The introductory texts, which address their subjects from an ethnographic point of view, were written by the anthropologist Marcus Colchester, director of the Forest Peoples Programme of the World Rainforest Alliance. The publication is illustrated with a full-color map of the Brazilian Amazon region, and has a bibliography and an index. There are a total of 159 photographs, split up according to ethnic group: Kampa (fifty-two photographs), Marubo (thirty-one photographs), and Yanomami (seventy-six photographs).

Document Summary: Introduction: People of the virgin Amazon jungle. Origins. Dreams and the cosmos. The quarrel of the spirits. The circle of souls. Shared lives. A way of life. Victims of the “King of Sugar.” A new El Dorado. Images of nature. Fighting for a future. The invisible revolution. Green connections. Departure. Kampa population in the leafy groves of the Amazon. (Canoeing to meet the Kampa). The Marubo. A fight against the unknown. The Yanonami. Inside the hut.

The author’s photographs are of remarkable artistic and documentary quality. They address the following themes: body decoration, body and facial paint, dances, celebrations and rituals, threading and weaving, basket making and braiding, ceramics, feather art, architecture and weapons. There are some very interesting photos of “kushmas”—garments for Kampa men and women—which are among the finest weavings produced by Brazilian Indians. Viewed as a work of photographic documentation, Mirella Ricciardi’s book is of comparable quality to the ones produced by the photographers Maureen Bisilliat (Xingu ethnic groups), Cláudia Andujar (Yanomami), and Rosa Gauditano (Xavante and Guaraní), who have all shed light on various aspects of Brazilian Indian art.

[As complementary reading, see the following texts in the ICAA digital archive: “Mitopoemas Yãnomam,” by Pietro Maria Bardi (doc. no. 1110746); “Anfänge der Kunst im Urwald: Indianer-Handzeichnungen auf seinen Reisen in Brasilien gesammelt,” by Theodor Koch-Grünberg (doc. no. 1110733); “A arte gráfica Ticuna,” by Jussara Gomes Grüber (doc. no. 1110730); “Arte iconográfica Waiãpi,” by Dominique Tilkin Gallois (doc. no. 1110736); by Darcy Ribeiro, “Arte índia” (doc. no. 1110737), “Arte plumária dos índios Kaapor” (doc. no. 1110739), and “Capítulo: Arte: a vontade da beleza” (doc. no. 1110735); and “Arte indígena,” by Gastão Cruls (doc. no. 1110738)].