REVEALING THE ROOTS OF THE PAST

Documentarian photographer Antonio Briceño seeks to rescue from oblivion the deities and gods of some of South America's oldest civilizations.

Photography Antonio Briceño
Text Adrian Saravia

Antonio Briceño has spent the last five years traveling the South American continent in search of history. The Venezuelan lensman has lived among the Huichol tribe in Mexico, the Kuna in Panama, the Piaroa, Pemón and Wayú of Venezuela, the Wiwa and Kogui tribes of the Colombian Sierra Nevada, the Inca descendants in the Peruvian Andes and now the Kayapó tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. His immersive experiences with indigenous peoples have permitted the symbiosis of art and ancient culture to produce a magical series of images he calls Gods of the Americas.
Because he’s a conservationist of sorts, Briceño’s mission transcends the artistic and has become a documentation of the myths and beliefs of whole cultures; one that preserves in each frame the traditions and lore of each tribe. Each image represents the most important of the tribes’ gods and mythical figures embodied by the local elders and leaders of the community. When contrasted with the dramatic backdrops of the surrounding landscapes (separately shot and later merged), the narrative of each myth acquires layers of meaning and symbols to be discovered by the viewer.
The latest additions to the growing collection of American deities are from the Kayapó Indians living on the shores of the Xingu River, between the states of Para and Mato Grosso in the Amazon region of Brazil. It took seven flights to reach his destination. A group of 400 Kayapó Indians awaited Briceño’s arrival as his small propeller plane loaded with provisions for the village touched down.

He arrived just in time for the fishing season of the much coveted Bemp fish of the Amazon waters. During this period, a month-long ceremony occurs where a few selected youngsters are baptized and considered “Bemps”, a rite of passage that occurs once a year. Endless nights of loud chanting and intense dance lead up to the great ceremony, when the youth are finally considered adults.
“The Kayapó are among the most ornate and beauty-oriented tribes I’ve ever come across, not in our modern world sense, but in the meticulous and detail-oriented manner in which they dress and decorate their bodies. They take three baths a day!” Briceño recalls.
The ceremony was the perfect opportunity to capture the intense complexity of the Indians, their traditions and social structures as well as discover the roots of their myths and the creation of their gods. Contrasted with previous series, the Amazon is a major character in some of the images but because of the ornate nature of the Kayapó, Briceño investigates the use of flat black backgrounds that highlight the subjects. In these pages are images of the Bird men, the dancing trees, vengeful gods and spirits of the water, all brought back to life and the modern world via digital technology.

- Antonio Briceño is currently preparing a large exhibit of the whole series of “Gods of the Americas” at the Casa Romulo Gallegos in Caracas in April 2007. His experiences in the Amazon also produced material for a documentary book on the Kayapó Indians. Briceño is currently preparing a trip to the Chilean Andes to shoot the Mapuche tribes. To learn more about Antonio Briceño’s work you can visit:
www.antoniobriceno.com