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Spirit of the Amazon: Resilience of the Indigenous Peoples of the Xingu
Derrys Cross
Plymouth
Devon
PL1 2SW
Opening Times
Sorry, this event has passed
Prices
Free
About us
Photojournalist, Sue Cunningham, and her writer husband, Patrick, have been recording life in Brazil since the 1980s. Join us for this illustrated talk as they bring a message from the indigenous peoples of the Xingu River in the heart of Brazil.
Sue and Patrick spent six months navigating along the 2,500km Xingu River. They listened to tales of struggles, hopes and shared dreams, making lifelong friends. Each of the 48 villages they visited asked them to take their message to the world, to show their strong culture and the threats they are facing.
Sue and Patrick won the Neville Schulman Award from the Royal Geographical Society for the expedition, which is documented in their award-winning book Spirit of the Amazon.
"The day I met Cacique Raoni Metuktire my life changed," says Sue. "He tied my soul to the forest. The Kayapo warriors and all the different indigenous peoples of the Xingu taught me so much about the forest."
Witnessing its destruction unfolding meant they had to do something.
Sue says: "During the expedition, our incredible friends from the Xingu fed us, body and soul. They showed us that they are one entity with the forest, the rivers, the rocks and the sky.
"They wanted non-indigenous people to understand that the indigenous population are people, women and men, with aspirations and dreams, proud to fight with hope for a better future for their children and grandchildren. In fact, for all of us, wherever we are."
Through their charity, Tribes Alive, of which Prof Sir Ghillean Prance FRS is patron, Sue and Patrick support indigenous peoples. In this talk they will describe their work with indigenous peoples, "which is always based on what they tell us they need, not on what we think they should do," says Sue.
Sue adds: "Now more than ever it is important to raise these resilient voices, which protect and defend the forest – indigenous people who elevate the spirit of Amazon for the benefit of humanity!
"Through their management of the Amazon environment they provide invaluable climate services to mankind by protecting the forests which maintain the balance of the global climate."
Sue grew up in Brazil and returns at least once a year in the course of her professional career. Alongside her many contributions to exhibitions, both solo and collective, Sue's work includes many educational publications, including the Letters from Around the World series by Cherrytree Books. She photographed and co-authored Out of the Amazon with Prof Prance, who is a former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
