ÁLVARO LAIZ

"En The Edge, Álvaro Laiz se embarca en un viaje apasionante desde el estrecho de Bering hasta el desierto de Atacama, un largo recorrido a través del tiempo y la genética, del devenir del hombre y su relación con el entorno en el que vive. Naturaleza, cultura tradicional y tecnología convergen a través de disciplinas como la genética de poblaciones y la visualización de datos. En este proyecto se recogen también cuestiones relativas al Antropoceno y sobre cómo los humanos se relacionan entre ellos y otras especies.El recorrido geográfico sigue las huellas de las poblaciones paleo-siberianas que hace más de 20.000 años, durante la última Edad de Hielo, empujados por los glaciares y con temperaturas rondando los 60 grados bajo cero, pasaron desde Asia a América, a través del estrecho de Bering, un territorio helado que durante algo más de 10.000 años sirvió de puente entre Asia y América, convirtiéndose no solo en los primeros pobladores de América, sino en antepasados de los pueblos que habitaron con posteridad este territorio."

"The Udege people, in eastern Siberia, have lived in the boreal forest for hundreds of years. Due to their close contact with nature, their beliefs are full of references to supernatural forces that they believe should be respected. In 1997 a Russian poacher called Markov came across the trail of an enormous Amur tiger. Despite the risk, Markov saw the tiger’s footprints as a promise for a better life. He shot the tiger, but was not able to kill it. Udege people believe that if someone attacks a tiger without good reason, Amba, the dark side of the tiger, will hunt him down. Without realising it, Markov had unleashed the Amba. Over the following 72 hours the animal tracked him down and killed him. Later investigations suggested that the tiger planned its movements with a rare mix of strategy and instinct and most importantly, with a chilling clarity of purpose: Amba was seeking revenge. This animistic belief constitutes the leitmotiv to experience the impact of nature in the Udege communities across one of the last remnants of shamanism: the culture of the hunter."

REVIEWS AND LISTS

PhotoEspaña Best Books of the Year, Babelia (El Pais), Fisheye Magazine, PDN, Photobookstore,
British Journal of Photography, L´oeil de Photographie, Photographic Museum of Humanity,
La Vanguardia, Konbini, Dispara, Mowwgli

The Delta of Amacuro, eastern Venezuela, is one of the most inhospitable places in the world. For the past 8.500 years ago Warao indians have turned its 20.000 km2 of water canals and swamps into their home. Despite the strong acculturation they have suffered because of colonialism Warao people have managed to keep their culture and way of life deeply roo- ted into this environment. The Warao, as it happens in other ethnic groupes, considers certain people are not man neither woman. They are called Tida Wena. Their inclusion in warao society goes back to the pre- Columbian traditions mentioned above. Most of these beliefs were common only half a century ago but now due to the growing acculturation they are facing extinction. Deep in the swamps of Delta of Orinoco it is still possible to make out their world as it was hundred years ago. Small and isolated native communities struggle to survive there. The existance of transgender people among the warao society could be the last remains of those old pre-Columbian traditions, never photographied before.