Catholic celebration. An image from a series about four Brazilian families. 1964
Claudia Andujar
Zé Arigó (1921-1971) was a famous healer. In 1962, Claudia Andujar did a reportage for the magazine Realidade
Claudia Andujar
A young member of the Yanomami tribe. Andujar's photos have helped maintain awareness of this threatened people
Claudia Andujar
The Yanomami do not have names. A system is therefore needed - here with numbers - to be able to identify them when they go to the doctor
Claudia Andujar
Claudia Andujar has lived since 1955 in São Paulo, a city that continues to fascinate her. For this shot from 1974 she used an infrared filter
Claudia Andujar
Claudia Andujar was constantly experimenting with new techniques. In 1974 she shot this picture in the Amazon, a composition with a horizontal element in the centre that stands out against the verticality of the jungle
Claudia Andujar
Photo from a series about water, 1972
Claudia Andujar
A young tribe member relaxes on the bank of the River Catrimani. "I love this picture, which I selected as the title image for a book," Andujar said. "Many people ask me whether he's dead. But no, he's just relaxing."
Claudia Andujar
Further portraits for identification at the doctor's
Claudia Andujar
An indigenous child rests on a lorry. Contact with Europeans exposed the Yanomami to all sorts of diseases and seriously threatened their existence
Claudia Andujar
The Amazon jungle in all its glory
Claudia Andujar
An indigenous woman doesn't want to show her disease - measles - which was brought into the area during the construction of a motorway
Claudia Andujar
Pedestrians in the middle of São Paulo in the 1970s
Claudia Andujar
A relaxed young native girl. "I call her Miss Yanomami," Andujar said.
Claudia Andujar
Andujar also explored the human body via nude photos. Because she was not satisfied with this image from 1971, she duplicated and altered the original
Claudia Andujar
A family living in very modest conditions in 1963. The older girl is looking after the baby while their parents work
Claudia Andujar
A young girl swims in the River Catrimani. Andujar prefers to work in black and white and only rarely uses colour
Claudia Andujar
Everyday life in 1964
Claudia Andujar
Photographer Claudia Andujar has been a long-time promoter of the culture and rights of the Amazon's Yanomami indigenous people. Born in Neuchâtel, the 84-year-old began her career in São Paulo, Brazil, where she has lived for decades.
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Andujar’s childhood in Switzerland and eastern Europe was marked by war. Claudine Haas, as she was called until her marriage, had a Hungarian Jewish father and a Swiss mother. Her father and almost her entire family on her father’s side were killed in Nazi concentration camps.
In 1944, she returned to Switzerland and soon afterwards travelled to an uncle in New York, where she worked as an interpreter at the United Nations. In order to gain US citizenship, in 1949 she married Julio Andujar, a Spaniard who would fight in the Korean War. The couple soon divorced, but Claudia kept her ex-husband’s name.
In 1955, she visited her mother, who lived in the Brazilian metropolis São Paulo. She preferred Brazil and never returned to the US.
In Brazil she discovered photography. “I was very interested in getting to know the country and the people. At the same time I developed an interest in the indigenous people,” she said.
It was tough at first. She earned a living by teaching English. But she slowly made a name for herself as a photographer and worked for Brazilian and international magazines such as Look, Life, Aperture, Claudia, Quatro Rodas, Setenta and in particular Realidade, a heavyweight of Brazilian photojournalism.
Andujar devoted more and more time to the documentation of native tribes, especially the Yanomami. In 1970 a special edition of Realidade was published, devoted to her work with the Yanomami.
She has published many works on the subject and her pictures have been displayed in the largest galleries in the world. This year her collection of more than 10,000 photos is set to be digitalised.
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A Swiss-eye view of 1940s Brazil
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These pictures are taken from an exhibition in São Paulo. They show everyday scenes of the city from the 1940s. (Photos: Hildegard Rosenthal/Instituto Moreira Salles)
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In his book Brasilia, Swiss photographer René Burri, who has been a member of the Magnum agency since 1959, documents the development of a utopia. Work on the city, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer and town planner Lucio Costa, started in 1956. It became the official capital of Brazil in 1960.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.