Nomads

This is the beginning of a personal project on Migration. For a long time the word migration has been associated to a lot of suffering and sadness and has brought the worst of human behaviour to the table. I intend to depict migration in a positive way; we humans have been moving and migrating for thousands of years with our livestock, this is denominated Transhumance. This challenging form of life goes hand in hand with nature and creates a special bond between us people and animals, brings communities together and encourages cooperation between individuals. They usually face difficult conditions, but this is what makes them stronger. This nomadic life is still silently happening everywhere in the world, done in different cultures, with different animals, and done for different reasons, in the most diverse landscapes and places. Thus each of them face different challenges and problems. In today’s modern society, keeping this nomadic lifestyle alive is even harder, and it’s increasingly vanishing; but against all odds some still preserve their traditions and truly rich lives. Since the beginning of 2016, I’ve embarked in an overland journey from Southeast Asia to Europe looking for this transhumance movement. This is a long-term project that will bring me to many different countries where this is still happening. Together with depicting daily life in such places and cultures, I want to understand and give light to the problems these people are facing. Their difficulties are mostly caused by the rules and changes the modern world is creating and imposing. This big changes are affecting us all - those who have been immersed in this system for long, as well as people who have lived in a healthier parallel environment -, so having both perspectives gives us a better understanding on how to improve our way of living as a whole. There are many lessons to learn from this way of life; I believe this is the time to question ourselves and be wise enough to look back and see how have we managed to survive for so long in our planet.