Marie-Hélène Fraïssé
The Voice of Defeat

As soon as he set foot on the American continent(s) the White man acted as both conqueror and owner, abusing the natives most basic rights, deporting, colonizing, and slaughtering indigenous populations to settle on their lands or to take over their riches. Five centuries later, from the Far North to Tierra del Fuego, the American Indian is still persona non grata on his own territory. Even if some of their demands eventually come to a successful conclusion after insurrections and endless trials, their voice still has the sound of defeat.


Guy Le Querrec
Big Foot Memorial Ride

In 1890, after the assassination of Sitting Bull, his friend Big Foot decided to seek refuge with another Sioux chief, Red Cloud. He gathered his tribe (mainly women, children, and elderly people) and set out for the long journey that would take them to Pine Ridge. They wouldn't go very far: the next day the whole tribe was exterminated by the American army at Wounded Knee. In 1986, Lakota horsemen decided to follow the same tracks as their ancestors and honour what remains the symbol of the Indian genocide. For five years, they challenged the harsh Dakota winter and followed Big Foot's path. Guy Le Querrec went with them in 1990, on their last journey.


Graciela Iturbide
La Matanza

After the matriarchal Yucatan society, Graciela Iturbide looked into yet another form of Mexican cultural variety. She took pictures of the matanza, a collective slaughtering of goats, a ritual whose origin dates back to the very first moments of Spanish colonization, and one that the Mixtec Indians continue to perform each year in the region of Oaxaca.