Documenting Vanishing Cultures in Photography

As our globalized world becomes more interdependent, indigenous tribes around the globe are losing their cultural identity. An increasing number of photographers are documenting these traditions before they disappear – providing visual evidence of humanity’s vast cultural diversity.

Photographer Jimmy Nelson set out on an ambitious mission to find and photograph 31 isolated tribes worldwide using his large-format 4×5 camera. Along the way he encountered some of the world’s most vibrant cultures while witnessing how ancient traditions slowly disappeared over time.

Photographer JP Alonso-Ruiz captured photos of Ese’Eja people of the Amazon rainforest who live as hunter-gatherer societies, accessing only 5 percent of their original habitat. Loggers, miners and speculators have chipped away at their basic way of life through logging, mining and speculation activities – which has resulted in land and resource exploitation seen mirrored in his daguerrotype portraits depicting Ese’Eja communities as daguerrotype portraits depicting exploited societies who access only 5 percent of original habitat due to loggers logging activities that have left only 5 percent accessible for hunting-gatherer societies to access 5 percent of original territory originally.

Tariq Zaidi, another photographer capturing lost cultures through photography, uses his camera to document inequality, social change and endangered communities. He finds special fulfillment working with groups living on the fringe of society; believing that photography has the ability to encourage empathy from its viewers.

Since 1978, Carol Beckwith has traveled throughout Africa, documenting its rich culture. In her most recent publication – African Twilight – she celebrates these ancient ways of living and honors them with images that bring them alive.