“Words without actions are empty. Actions without words are blind. Words and actions outside the spirit of the community are deadly”
-Nasa People, Colombia
Communication As a practice of Survival
ÑAMBI RIMAI is an Indigenous Media Collective operating in the Southwest of Colombia, between the High Andes and the Lower Amazon. Its mission is to support processes of self-governance, cultural preservation, and communication across indigenous territories and beyond through film, radio, and multimedia productions. Today, the collective is made of 10 indigenous leaders from the Awa, Inga, Kamënstá, Quillacinga, Nasa, and Siona nations living between the states of Nariño, lower Cauca, and Putumayo. This initiative emerged in 2019 as a collaboration between Taita (Inga Chief) Hernando Chindoy and Felipe Castelblanco, with support from Camilo Pachón (Ambulante Mas Allá – AMA) and The Para-Site School. Through numerous workshops, exchanges, and field trips to neighboring reservations, members from Ñambi Rimai have gained audio-visual, media, and networking skills. Guest instructors include Hannah Meszaros-Martin (Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths University, London), Emiliano Altuna (Filmmaker, Mexico), Monica Bustamante (Bogotá), Numael Mendez (Bogotá), and Lydia Zimmermann (Artisan Films, Zurich and Barcelona). in 2019, Ñambi Rimai produced two participatory documentaries featured in this show.