COLOMBIA & THE AMAZON

Colombia is the second most bio-diverse country in the world, stretching inland from the Caribbean Sea across the Andes Mountain range, to the Amazon Basin. The cultural diversity of the region is equally great, with a rich and varied ethnographic history.

As a photographer, visual artist and film-maker jamie has been invited to collaborate with Colombian-Canadian photographer, sculpture & visual artist Diego Samper, in the Amazon River basin. In 2010 they previously collaborated on a film called 'Panopticon', constructed from 969 photographs of graffiti art taken by Diego in a Colombian prison with a powerful soundscape by Steve Wright. Together they developed a stylistic approach to the morphing of still images into animation. Their new film project will continue to explore experimental techniques for approaching film-making, but will also include live performance, a childrens choir, a river boat library and other educational and community projects working alongside Marlene Samper.

 
Matamata Creek
 
The work is inspired by the Amazon itself, and pays homage to the Absolute UNITY and INTERCONNECTEDNESS of all life.
 
“This forest is the environment that drives and fulfills the dream of each leaf in a vast rhythmic cycle called life. Nothing is outside. We are all of it in a unity that transcends the whole. Maybe, just maybe, this resonates of G-d. If that is so, then we are all G-dde’s children, every earthworm, every virus, mammal, fish and whale, every fern, every tree, every man, woman & child. One equal to another. Again and again.”
Diana Beresford-Kroeger from ‘The Global Forest’
 
The project will be based at the Calanoa Amazonas Reserve, which is located next to one of Colombia's largest National Parks, the Amacayacu National Park, and is rich in wildlife, including jaguars, rare crocodile species and birds. The local communities of Tikuna people in this area of the Amazon are on very good terms with Diego and his wife Marlene, who have been involved in many cultural exchanges and educational projects together.
 
Marlene and Diego Samper, who lived in the region in the 80’s, are the directors of the non-profit society that runs the Calanoa Amazon Project, a conservation venture and sustainable educational and scientific centre in the Amazon, that is developing a model of sustainable living for the humid tropics, that integrates science, art and design. With natural architecture, and development towards 100% renewable energy sources, it focuses on minimizing its ecological footprint wherever possible. The project is supported by biologists, designers, artists and ecologists that are based in the area.
 
 
Diego, Marlene & jamie
 
Diego Samper: Expedition Guide & Photographer, Colombian-Canadian visual artist & book publisher. 
Diego brings to the expedition a lifetime of experience as a photographer and explorer of the Amazon. The Samperʼs lived for the 80ʼs in the Caquetá River. Diegoʼs belongs to a prominent architectural family with himself having a long history as a photography book publisher. His work on the Makuna people of the Northwest Amazon was published by Smithsonian Institution Press and he was invited to join a National Geographic team to the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Vancouver Museum of Anthroplogy at UBC has recently acquired the artifacts collection that the Samperʼs built after years with the Makuna and the Cametza people (of the upper Putumayo river).

Marlene Samper: Expedition & Tour Organizer, Spanish instructor. Social communicator and educator, Marlene has promoted indigenous community development through the revival of traditional art.
 
thatched cabin on stilts, morning light

Amazon River from Calanoa Reserve at sunset

jamie griffiths: Photographer, Conceptual artist & Performer, Film Director, Technology artist. Jamie has worked at the forefront of innovation in photographic and experimental film techniques since the early 1990ʻs. jamie has travelled extensively shooting both video and stills in war zones in Bosnia and the Middle East, and on expedition in the Mexican jungle to film an orphaned juvenile jaguar. As a fine art photographer her work has been published and exhibited internationally since 1992. Her experimental films have been broadcast on Canadian TV and in international gallery installations.
jamie has been a Langara CS Photography instructor since 2002. She is a guest lecturer and Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbiaʼs Department of Film and Theatre and gives workshops globally on visual design and experimental live film performance techniques. .

jamie filming an orphan jaguar (Mexico)


SOME AMAZON ADVOCACY ORGANISATIONS
Protect Amazon Rainforest link
Greenpeace Amazon Campaign link
Uncontacted Tribes Advocacy for Protection (Brasil) link
Survival International Tribal Advocacy Organization link
Chevron Fined for Amazon Pollution link
 
AMAZON EXPLORATIONS