Awindua – Magdalena Department – Colombia

Beautiful family portraits of my Wiwa friends from Awindua - Mundo Nuevo. It has already been 10 years since I first met them.

They know the temptations and comforts of the modern world, but have deliberately chosen to live largely outside of its logic.

In the city, we exchange our time for money, and then exchange that money for food. The more we need, the more we have to earn—and the more of our time we give away.

Here in the Sierra Nevada, the exchange feels different. Money is still necessary when something has to be bought in town, but much of everyday life comes directly from the land. You give the earth your time: planting, caring for it, waiting for the seasons. In return, it feeds you.

There are no price tags hanging from the trees. When you are hungry, you walk into the garden.

And perhaps that is the real wealth of this way of life: not having more money, but needing less of it—and gaining something increasingly precious in return: time, freedom, and a close relationship with the earth.