The Gender Fluid Tribes of the Colombian Amazon

My first experience of photographing LGBT tribe communities was the muxhes of the Oaxaca isthmus in Mexico, where I'm from. They are part of a homosexual community that has transcended the idea of gender to assume an exaggerated female identity—based on the constant search for beauty. You might say they have developed a so-called "third gender." I photographed their world for several years.

Later, I got involved with a photography project in the Colombian Amazon jungle called 20 Fotografos Amazonas. I wanted to immerse myself in the jungle—in its colors, its myths, its legends. It was there I discovered the Ticuna tribe, another homosexual community with strong similarities with the Oaxaca muxhes. I was struck by how similar their skin color was, how both tribes were preoccupied with the accentuation of excess, and, above all, how the identities of both communities are shaped by femininity. Read more via Vice