Phil Borges: People of Indigenous Cultures

© Phil Borges

When I was a child, I was not very keen on reading books. But there was one exception - I loved the books about Indians. I liked to read stories about those brave and peaceful people, about canyons and buffalos. But there are people, whose love for those native civilizations is much greater than mine. One of them is a photographer Phil Borges, who has been visiting and documenting people of indigenous and tribal cultures for more than 25 years. At his website People Of Indigenous Cultures, you can see some of his unique photographs from many places of the world and learn more about those precious people and their customs.

Linguist Ken Hale estimates that 3,000 of the 6,000 languages that exist in the world today are fated to die. How sad! Languages of people like those you can see on Phil’s portraits. And do you know why? Those languages are no longer spoken by the children. But it’s not that nothing can be done about it, and Phil knows it. His contribution is to establish “Bridges to understanding,” which will connect children of indigenous communities with those of urban schools. And how to build those bridges? With the help of photography.

Bridges to understanding

Bridges Project

You can learn more of this unique project on the website www.bridgesweb.org Central to the program is interactive photographic storytelling mentored by professionals and created by the students. Kids from Tibet and San Francisco, Kenya and Minneapolis, Pakistan and Vancouver B.C., Amazon and Amsterdam will run around together with digital cameras and audio recorders, creating a record of their environment, lifestyles and customs.

I’d like to see more photographers contributing to this wondrous idea in the future. Maybe not all of those 3,000 endangered cultures could be saved. But I wish that at least one kid of each of those unique civilizations will get a chance to participate in the Bridges Project. Maybe their photo and audio recordings will be the last remembrances of the untold riches still existing in the indigenous and tribal cultures around the world. Phoetica thanks Phil Borges and all the kindhearted people, who are committed to treasure and preserve those traditional human values.