“I wanted to show the daily life in the world’s most endangered tribe,” he said.
The Awa-Guaja’s way of life is being threatened by relentless loggers who are illegally encroaching on their land, according to Brazil’s National Indian Foundation. Many Awa Indians have had little to no contact with the outside world, but that is beginning to change, the foundation reports, as loggers continue to destroy the forests their existence depends on.
Rodrigues set out to document the tribe’s existence — pure, pristine and, tragically, fleeting.
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Rodrigues tries to explain:
“Getting out of my comfort zone, my comfortable bed, to walk for hours through virgin forest, crossing rivers and rapids with water up to my neck … hearing the triumphal songs of the hunters as they walked home a large prey to share with their brethren — this experience can completely change a human being.”
Daniel Rodrigues is a photographer based in Portugal. You can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr.
