This book is dedicated to the vibrant and diverse peoples of the Xingu who welcomed us into their communities and fed us body and soul. You asked us to tell the world about your culture; we hope we have succeeded.
We also dedicate it to our wonderful sons Alex and Kit, whose lives have been coloured by our work; to Ruth and Alex Jakober for showing Sue the beauty in life all over the world; and to Charles and Pat Cunningham for encouraging Patrick always to be inquisitive.
– Sue & Patrick CunninghamFirst published in Great Britain in 2019 by Papadakis Publisher
An imprint of Academy Editions Limited
Kimber Studio, Winterbourne, Berkshire, RG20 8AN, UK info@papadakis.net | www.papadakis.net
@papadakisbooks PapadakisPublisher
Publishing Director: Alexandra Papadakis
Design Director: Aldo Sampieri
Editor: Alexandra Papadakis
Production: Megan Prudden
Publishing Assistant: Helen Naish
ISBN 978 1906506 67 4
Copyright © 2019 Sue and Patrick Cunningham and Papdakis Publisher
All text © 2019 Sue and Patrick Cunningham unless otherwise stated.
Foreword © 2019 Sting
All photographs © 2019 Sue Cunningham unless otherwise stated.
All rights reserved.
Printed and bound in the China.
Authors’ royalties from this book support the work of: Tribes Alive/Indigenous People’s Cultural Support Trust, www.tribesalive.org
Tribes Alive collaborates with Indian tribal communities to help them to be self-sustaining and independent, and to promote indigenous people’s traditional way of life as an equal, valuable and valid alternative to other cultures.
front cover: Autamaco Matuipu is the Huka-huka champion of his village, a powerfully-built young man destined to be a leader. His face paint represents a hummingbird; the eye is its body, its legs below and its tail stretching across to his ear.
back cover: Unbroken forest cover in Kayapó territory.
endpapers: It is still possible to fly above unbroken and undamaged rainforest, where the clear waters of the Riozinho River meander between banks of green trees and beaches of golden sand, but only where the forests are protected within indigenous territories.
half title: A Kayapó hunter will never enter the forest without his ‘second skin’, the body paint which protects him from the spirits all around him. Baka-e Metuktire’s shirt, hat and jeans are conveniences that protect him only from physical harm.
frontis: Yawapi Kamaiura killed a jaguar when it attacked him, earning the spiritual right to identify with it by wearing its claws as a necklace and painting his face with dots to recall the animal’s markings.
title page: Chief Raoni Metuktire enjoys a pipe of tobacco. Though in his late eighties he is most relaxed with his legs crossed, sitting in his hammock in the village.
previous spread: As we swooped down to land on the dirt landing strip in A-Ukre village we could see the Riozinho River stretching away through unbroken forest to the treecovered hills in the distance.
overleaf: These are two pictures of Ta’Kire Kayapó which span thirty years. The first was taken in 1989 at the Tribal Gathering in the town of Altamira. The second picture was taken during the Free Land Camp in Brasilia in 2018. During that time much has changed, but Kayapó tradition remains strong and resilient, and Ta’Kire remains a good friend.
right: Ngre’ora Metuktire brought us a cooked Pacu ( Piaractus mesopotamicus ) fish on a banana leaf. Metuktire village.
