Vice Style

A woman wearing a t-shirt from AMWAE, a Huaorani woman’s association, stamped with TIERRA ES VIDA. NO MAS PETROLEO - Land is Life. No More Oil

This outward posturing of traditional ways, while helping Huaorani political status, makes it pretty difficult to fit into everyday South American society. Not wearing Western clothing can open the natives up to racist hostility. An Ecuadorian girl in Puyo, a town on the edge of the forest, told me that she didn’t like the indigenous people because they were naked, and they smelled bad.

Basically, they’re fucked if they do, and they’re fucked if they don’t. When Moi and his family took us to the frontier town of Coca so that they could go and buy supplies, we saw them change out of their jungle clothes into clean city costume to try to look as ‘normal’ as possible. For the Huaorani, and the native Indians in the Americas, dressing right isn’t just a matter of looking good, it’s vital for their survival.