Teaching young indigenous communicators in Brazil a new perspective

Beauty and a unique perspective is what we’re looking for when peering through a camera lens. We had the chance to share this way of seeing the world when our photography researcher, Tina Leme Scott, was invited to run a virtual photography workshop last month for a group of youngsters living in the Amazon. 

Tina joined the Story Productions team in 2020. A photographer herself, she has spent many years living in the Amazon, and even more time teaching photography to young people, including in schools in the low-income periphery of São Paulo. 

As part of her research into photos to illustrate the environmental and current affairs topics covered in our monthly Brazil Spotlight column, Tina sourced a series of photos from Amazônia Real, an NGO and independent news website focusing on human rights and environmental issues across the Amazon region. In exchange for the use of their photos, Tina was invited to give a workshop to young communicators – from activists to journalists and photo-journalists – in the Jovens Cidadãos Indigenas (“Young Indigenous Citizens”) programme. The youngsters involved in this programme benefit from regular training and contribute to a blog in which they explore everything from environmental to social, health and personal stories related to the Amazon. 

With Tina’s experience not just of the reality of living in the Amazon, but of teaching young people from different backgrounds, the workshop was the perfect invitation for her to encourage a diverse group to rethink the way they approach photography. Over the course of 2.5 hours, Tina explored the way that light and colour can come into play in capturing an interesting image, and how photographers can seek out textures, patterns and different perspectives when taking a picture. 

After the workshop, Tina asked the group to take a series of photographs, some of which they’ve given us permission to share below. There were snaps from Kamikia Kisêdjê, a photographer and filmmaker from the Xingú National Park in Mato Grosso state. Samela Sateré-Mawés is an environmental and women’s rights activist living on the outskirts of Manaus. She is part of the Sateré-Mawé people and works for APIB, an indigenous rights organization. Other participants joined the workshop from as far  as Pará, Amazonas, Amapá and Acre states.