Noncomala, 2025 - ongoing
A dream of the people of the water called me back to my roots, taking me to the mountains of Western Panama. There, I encountered small miracles—echoes of ancestral myths that revealed water as both lifeline and storyteller.
For the Ngäbe-Buglé, one of Panama’s largest Indigenous groups, water is sacred. It is the thread that connects them to their ancestors, a force of creation and renewal. In their mythology, Noncomala, the creative deity, shaped the earth and waters, but they remained in darkness. Only through his union with the water-sprite Rutbe were the sun and moon born, bringing light to the world. Yet, water also holds the power to destroy—an ancient flood once wiped out humanity, leaving behind only a single seed of life to begin again.
That duality persists today. While water sustains, it is also a source of struggle. Many Indigenous communities in Panama continue to fight for access to clean water, as extractive industries encroach upon their lands. The Ngäbe-Buglé have long resisted the exploitation of their rivers, from mining runoff to hydroelectric projects that threaten their way of life. The construction of the Barro Blanco dam on the Tabasará River, for example, displaced families and submerged cultural and spiritual sites, severing a connection that had endured for generations.
This series explores water as a vital element —one that holds the power to create, destroy, and sustain, while shaping both mythology and resistance.
