Santa Barbara Photographer Documents Indigenous Activism in New Photobook

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A new photobook presents a decade-long collaboration between photographer Tristan Partridge and the Ancestral Community of San Isidro, a Kichwa-Panzaleo Indigenous community in highland Ecuador.

Mingas+Solidarity focuses on “mingas” – days of voluntary, cooperative work dedicated to collective projects – and how this togetherness is used in San Isidro to strengthen struggles for social justice, including within the national Indigenous Movement. Accompanied by parallel texts in English and Spanish written by community members, this book is a celebration of community resilience and persistence.

The afterword is written by Ecuador’s famous political activist, Alberto Acosta. He writes: “In dark times, there are people in the world who show us other paths. The photos and texts in this book – loaded with light and color, with life and experiences, with joy and effort – reflect one of these many paths.”

Mingas+Solidarity is co-published by T&G Publishing and Pazmaen Press (September 2024).

Advance copies are available via pazmaen.com (and at Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara).

“For Indigenous peoples, the minga is an ancient institution that has allowed the development of culture, technology, and science, the defense of territories, and the survival of Indigenous people across our great Abya Yala [the Americas]… In the minga, you learn to value work and culture, to respect your elders, to share life lessons with young people, to learn skills from each other, to raise morale and self-esteem as a person, family, and community. In short, the minga supports all community life.”

 – Porfirio Allauca Guamán, President of the Ancestral Community of San Isidro, writing in Mingas+Solidarity.