Liza Moura, “Lost Cultural Identity”

Liza Moura will present Lost Cultural Identity at the Spéos Gallery, 7 rue Jules Vallès 75011 Paris, from November 30, 2021 to January 14, 2022.

Opening of the exhibition: November 30, from 6pm to 9pm.

About the exhibition

The deforestation of the Amazon Forest brought consequences beyond the environmental framework.
With the fall of the trees – natural protection for various tribes – the white man approached the Indian, and this contact triggered major changes in the indigenous community’s lifestyle. When approaching the technology brought by the white man, for example, the Indian began to desire it. Covet a cell phone even without having the power to recharge it or signal to use it.

Also they covet our way of dressing; and will want to imitate it. They want to speak the language of white people, and they build schools to learn a culture that is not their own. They cut trees to make roads and be able to ride with the motor vehicles brought by these “foreigners.” They still bathe in the river, but they wash the newly acquired motorcycle in the same river, regardless of the oil that may contaminate the fish that will be their dinner.

The loss, or weakening, of a part of the indigenous cultural identity is visible. The Indian who has always been the protector of the forest, of his home, passes to deforest it, to pollute it, often without notice, only to approach customs and the white man.

Cultural identity is disappearing from indigenous communities in the Amazon. The new generations will speak a language that is not theirs, learned from books, will wear clothes and wear shoes, will have a diet with products that they are not capable of producing and the image of the Indian will be in the history books.

About the photographer

Liza Moura is a Brazilian photographer based in Paris since 2011. She uses photography as a unique way of expressing different cultures, peoples, events. For her, a photo is able to resume complex subjects and can rescue emotions. Photography is an intrinsic necessity to her.
She takes advantage of the background in the Law and Arts History to develop her projects and documentaries, which always have a social and cultural aspect, showing the current reality and different aspects of the society and environment.

Awarded at Grand Prix Paris Match Photoreportage Etudiant 2018 – Winner on Public Choice, Perpignan Off Festival – 2019, BYOPAPER! at Les rencontres de la Photographie – Arles 2018, Finalist at Prix Mark Grosset – 2019 – Vendôme, Liza had as well her artwork exhibited around France at Paris, Lyon, Perpignan, Vendôme, The Dime gallery at Chicago, Photographic Nights of Selma – Alabama, Shenzhen Luohu Art Museum – China, and few publications at Marie Claire Brazil, Hong Kong, Belgium and Fisheye Magazine.
> See Liza’s multiple awards

Liza participates at the European Union’s training program for preservation and enhancement of photographic archives, with partners from European countries, including the Magnum Foundation, a non-profit organization linked to the Magnum Photos agency.

Liza graduated from the Professional Photography in 2 years program at Spéos, specializing in documentary photography, in 2017.