Shot on Fujifilm Velvia in 2010 along the shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia at sunset, the series depicts a ritual offering of symbolic objects to Pachamama, the Aymara and Quechua speaking people's concept of Mother Earth as a potent deity. One makes tiny little sacrifices to her throughout the day, a little dab of alcohol here while climbing a mountain or sitting at a bar in the city, always seeking good fortune, yet there are also more elaborate shamanic community rituals to seek her and other animist forces' favor. The Ch'alla is one such ritual that occurs regularly throughout the Andes.
I was fortunate to be invited to the community of Tocoli and their Ch'alla while studying with The School for International Training in the Spring of 2010. During my time in Bolivia, I also later studied the method of visual ethnography, pondering the myriad challenges of intersubjective understanding being achieved through photography. In doing so, I contemplated the role of aesthetics within the practice, especially given a determination that the authentic presentation of another's literal worldview is best achieved through devolving the power of the lens to those one seeks to communicate with in an authentic way. Thus, I see these images as my own aesthetically guided presentation and relatively inward interpretation of the event, one in which the mysterious shadows of others and mystification weigh heavily upon one's subjectivity. Yet, pareidolia emerges too amidst this art.
