MARTIN CHAMBI

Chambi was an Indigenist photographer -- the first to photograph his people as seen through their own eyes. Chambi himself emphasized that status in 1936, on the occasion of an exhibition in Santiago and Viña del Mar:

“I have read that in Chile it is thought that Indians have no culture, that they are uncivilized, that they are intellectually and artistically inferior when compared to whites and Europeans. More eloquent than my opinion, however, are graphic testimonies. It is my hope that impartial and objective witnesses will examine this evidence. I feel that I am a representative of my race; my people speak through my photographs.”

-Martín Chambi