Transforming the future of humanity begins with storytelling.

Tatiana Lopez is an Ecuadorian photographer, multidisciplinary artist and visual anthropologist whose work focuses on themes of identity and belonging, the body as a medium of expression and the interconnectedness between humans and nature.

Lopez is one of five recipients of the Photographers Without Borders Revolutionary Storyteller Grant.

She speaks to storytelling as a co-creation process that invites transformation and deep healing. It is through relationship building that the experiences and stories are told.

That is why her project deeply involves the Sapara women, who will also be their own storytellers through photographing a set of polaroid portraits that will be collaboratively embroidered by the participating women. Together, there will be a weaving of new narratives.

As a visionary and storyteller, Tatiana Lopez will use the grant to portray the Indigenous Sapara women land defenders, creating a photo essay of the women who are part of the Yarishaya Itiumu - Blooming Women in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Tatiana has a close relationship with Sapara women and their communities. In collaboration with the Yarishaya Itiumu, Blooming Women in the Llanchamacocha community, Tatiana co-created her ethnographic film “Naku Ikinyu,” selected as one of two winners at the 2021 Graduate Student Award for Outstanding Work offered by The Society for Visual Anthropology.

Tatiana’s interest in dream and dream interpretation also inspired her connection with the Sapara women.

The Sapara believe that the understanding of the world -Naku is influenced by the well-being of the land and their daily engagement of the spirits of the forest through dreams. Place is endowed with significance and a destroyed land means losing access to dream time. As a consequence women’s waking life actions, women’s bodies and spiritual well-being would be threatened by outside forces.

“How can we make the invisible, visible, and the intangible, tangible,” asked Tatiana. Dreams bring visions and messages, they are a connection to the ancestors and spirits.

To photograph the essence of a place and the very landscape that tells stories brings a whirl of magic and transformation into the photographic experience. Photography is an act of re(construction), as it reinforces the relation with nature through traditional symbolism and imagery.

“We all have the power to create and impact,” said Tatiana. “It’s about how we choose to tell the story, and in what ways we tell it.”

“A revolutionary storyteller is someone who is able to create this transformative experience for other people. Decolonizing the way we tell stories goes beyond the objectification of having an image or capturing an image.” It’s time to break the process that has been focused on imposing, and creating false narratives and write a story that doesn’t affect the people who have been photographed or the people who are telling the story.

There have also been extensive attempts of illegal extraction of fossil fuels impacting the Sapara Indigenous people. The women feel that the low level of inclusion in decision-making has deprived them of the strength to achieve territorial self-determination. Harmful climate policies continue to pass regardless of the Indigenous communities' opposition.

“The future of humanity is a time for awakening and self-discovery,” said Tatiana Lopez. “We can transform our future and the future of humanity with new ways of seeing the world, raising our voices and telling stories from a place of love and hope.” It may take time for the world to accept new ways of seeing and relating to the environment, but with consistency and the vision for a better world, change can happen.

This project is the start of a conversation and awareness about the Sapara women and the colonization and extraction that is happening in Ecuador. There is a call for Indigenous knowledge to be implemented and heard in projects like Tatiana’s that further humanity. The time of reconnecting to the forest, river and the wind is here.

While Tatiana works on her RSG project her work is currently being exhibited in the Mother Earth Speaks 2022 CONTACT Exhibit and you can follow her on IG to view more of her amazing work.