Franziska Link, Song of the Sikkerei (PEOPLE & PORTRAIT 2025)

Amid the ancient roots and towering trees, a Sikkerei elder shares a moment of laughter, unguarded, unburdened, alive. It cuts through the forest air like the rising smoke behind them: ephemeral, yet deeply rooted. In a world where Indigenous wisdom is so often framed in solemnity, this image reminds us of another truth: that joy, too, is sacred. That even in the seriousness of ritual, laughter lives. It is resilience. It is relationship. It is spirit moving freely between the leaves. The Mentawai shamans are keepers of a knowledge that was never written down. It lives in their breath, in their gestures, in the way they move through the forest with respect rather than urgency. I spent days in the muddy jungle, pulling leeches from my skin, wading through roots and rain, waiting for the light to shift, for the authentic moments to arrive. As the modern world encroaches deeper into the jungle and threatens ancestral ways of life, these images move beyond documentation. They become invitations, moments that ask us to pause, to remember.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.