EcoX: Photographer Carl Austin Hyatt meets the indigenous elders of Peru

Photographer Carl Austin Hyatt has been traveling to the highlands of Peru for more than 20 years. He first went to study with the shamans of a tribe often called “The Last of the Incas”. The Q’ero live at altitudes of from 13,000’ to 16,000’ high in the Peruvian Andes. Because of their isolation they were only ‘discovered’ by the outside world in 1949. As he tells the story, he didn’t go to photograph but to learn from their indigenous elders. He wanted to experience how these people saw and experienced Creation without the distorting veil of Western culture. He has had a lifelong love of stones and for the Q\’ero, stones and mountains are central to their spiritual practices. Eventually photography became part of his more than 30 expeditions to this rugged, pristine and mysterious land. He now has an extensive archive of images. His photographs are in public and private collections across the US including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.