Doomed Paradise - The last Penan in the Borno Rainforest
Photo book
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Doomed Paradise - The last Penan in the Borno Rainforest
Photobook with texts by Ian B.G. Mackenzie and Lukas Straumann
Publisher Scheidegger & Spiess, 2019
Text German / English / Penan
160 pages, 100 color illustrations
22 x 30 cm, Paperback
"The rainforest is our supermarket," says Peng Megut, headman of Long Tevenga, a small Penan settlement in the middle of an intact rainforest. For generations, the Penan, an indigenous tribe of originally nomadic hunters and gatherers, have lived in the rainforests of Borneo (Sarawak, Malaysia). They hunt wild animals with blowpipes, fish, collect fruit and harvest sago palms. "The forest gives us everything to live. Water, salt, arrow poison, resin to make fire and medicine. We love to hear the voices of the animals. It is a beautiful life. That is all we need. We come from the forest and return to the forest after death."
The way of life of the Penan has changed a lot since 1950. Missioned by Christians, they founded their first settlements. Since 1970, the corrupt government has been promoting the deforestation of the rainforest. Together with the Swiss activist Bruno Manser, the Penan fought with blockades in the 1990s against the destruction of their ancestral land and made headlines worldwide. Today, more than 90% of Sarawak's rainforest has been cleared and palm oil plantations are spreading. The loss of their livelihood forced almost all 12,000 Penan to settle and farm.
Peng Megut is one of the very very few who has managed to defend his forest. His clan was able to maintain the nomadic way of life until today. Regularly they cross their 126 km2 large area like once their ancestors. But the forest around this paradise has already been cleared. Again and again the loggers try to encroach into his forest. Peng builds barricades to keep the bulldozers away. "To cut down a single tree, they have to build a road. We don't want a road because we don't need cars. Our feet: This is our car, on every mountain and through every river! We never sell our forest, because even the largest pile of money is once used up. But the forest will still feed our children and grandchildren."
First published in German GEO magazine 12/2018
Solo exhibition at Kornhausforum Bern 2019
Insight an order at shop
