Mentawai Experience

• Photographer
  Jacopo Maria Della Valle
• Prize
  Honorable Mention in People / Culture

The Mentawai are indigenous people living in the jungle, isolated from the modern society and still maintaining their distinctive lifestyle and ancient traditions. They live in wooden longhouses called “uma”, in harmony and peace with Nature which offers them all they need but which must be treated with respect. They believe that everything in Nature has a spiritual essence and they have a traditional religious system for regulating the relationship between humans and spirits. The shamans,called “Sikereis”,are the caregivers of the traditional culture, from religion to lifestyle and tattooing.