© AP

Aside from passport photos and other such “authenticated” photography, it’s always an exciting occasion in our digital age to see photography used as proof. Recently the Brazilian government has released photographs of an uncontacted tribe which resides deep in the Amazon rainforest. More from AP:

Brazil’s government agreed to release stunning photos of Amazon Indians firing arrows at an airplane so that the world can better understand the threats facing one of the few tribes still living in near-total isolation from civilization, officials said Friday.

Anthropologists have known about the group for some 20 years but released the images now to call attention to fast-encroaching development near the Indians’ home in the dense jungles near Peru.

“We put the photos out because if things continue the way they are going, these people are going to disappear,” said Jose Carlos Meirelles, who coordinates government efforts to protect four “uncontacted” tribes for Brazil’s National Indian Foundation.

© AP

I’m not going to deny that I was curious, and sort of glad, to see these images but I couldn’t help myself from wondering if these situations do more harm than good. Photography is an inherently invasive process, often one which benefits the shooter/hunter more than the subject. The very fact that these indigenous people were firing arrows at the airplane used to document their existence is something which is troubling to say the least. Are non-westernized cultures doomed to be our freak shows? Why is this protection not already implemented?

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