Hunting Paintings. Colors (3)

But, among the survivors of the planet earth, chromatic language also serves other functions, and no better place to see this than in the paradise of chameleons, Madagascar. 

For some, the best shade is ‘background colour’, precisely in order not to be seen by predators. 

On the other side of the world, in the jungles of Venezuela, these tribe women are collecting the fruit of the tree they call onoto. They extract the seeds, from which they make a red dye which is very important for them.

They are going to paint themselves, ready to hunt. This tribe have always surprised anthropologists with their vast culture based on a symbolic universe. They ritualise everything, and in particular their relations with animals and plants. Before setting out to kill an animal, they must, through the shaman, establish contact with that animal’s spirit, and seek its consent. Through ritual paintings, hunters believe they will attract certain animals and scare off others. In their mythical universe, hunting is a kind of seduction, in which the men pair up with animal females by mutual agreement. 

In these cases, as in others, the shaman is a spiritual hybrid, somewhere between them and the animals, and establishes the bridges necessary for the union.  

The cultural tradition of the Amerindian peoples of the Amazon Basin is based on paintings on the bodies of the tribe members.

The animal spirits only permit predation if a relationship of affinity has been established.