Daguerrotype image © Andrew Bale

I’ve just finished making several clamshell cases for Professor Andrew Bale at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Each of the cases holds a framed Daguerrotype in the base and a small portfolio of platinum-palladium prints on Japanese Kozo paper (both made by Andy Bale) on top. The images are of the Ese’ Eja Nation, an indigenous people living in the Amazonian region of Peru.

Andrew Bale journeyed to Peru’s remote jungles to capture images for a National Geographic-funded project to map the Ese’Eja’s culture.

 

The project, staffed by videographers, photographers, anthropologists and botanists, aims to enable Ese’Eja society to reclaim ancestral lands from the Peruvian government. That achievement would allow a people that derives so much of its economy and spirituality from the forest to sustain their livelihood into the future.

 

Bale’s portraits of daily life, handmade objects and individuals will be featured in an upcoming book sponsored by National Geographic’s Genographic Legacy Fund. Sales of the book support initiatives for better access to health care, education and legal grappling to secure the Ese’Eja’s ancestral lands.

 

— Dickinson College, Capturing Culture.

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