Italian photographer Nicola Okin Frioli’s latest project is entitled Piatsaw. It tells about the different ways of resistance used by the indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon who are threatened by the ongoing concessions to foreign companies for extraction activities. The extractive activities not only destroy the jungle; they also deprive the natives of their lands, of their identities and traditions. The Shuar and Achuar territories are rich in copper and gold. In the north, in the province of Pastaza y Orellana where Sáparas and Kichwas live, the threat comes from the extraction of oil. The concept of territorial identity and control of the lands, the conservation of the ethnic identity and its traditions, the war of 1995 that divided them between Ecuadorians and Peruvians, the victory of the Sarayaku against the government, the attack on Nankinz and the following eviction of Tsumtsuim, are the central themes that compose this diary on the resistance of what is left of the Amazon peoples in Ecuador. Piatsaw relates to the first man in the Sápara mythologie who prophesied the end of his people’s culture. “After years studying anthropology, and reading chronicles of adventures about the high Amazon, I decided to go there for the first time in 2015 “with no real photographic project,” says Nicola Okin Frioli. “I needed to see and understand what would be my project. So, my first trip was about opening doors and receiving permissions from the indigenous populations. I built friendships with the chiefs, leaders and administrators of some communities. I first landed in the South-East of Ecuador near the border with Peru where the Shuars live (Also known as Headshrinkers), and during my last long trip I covered the northeast of Ecuador, the Kichwa and Cofán territories.”
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