Yanomami Owë Mamotima

Mahekototeri, Estado de Amazonas, Venezuela. YOM initiated in 1992 was developed directly with the community and from 1994 led by Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe. The project holistically addresses several needs at once: the need for the Yanomami to document their own history, their need of an ecological method of recycling obsolete text books and other paper refuse, and the need to create a new means of revenue without disturbing their cultural and ecological environment. In 2000 the first book produced by the project titled Shapono, received the award of Best Book of the Year from the Centro Nacional del Libro of Venezuela. This book is now part of collections both private and public, including the Cotsen Library Collection of Princeton University, the Gimbel Library of Parsons School of Design in New York, and the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library. In 2002 the project received the Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Grant. In 2004, the project was guest of honor at the XI Feria Internacional del Libro, Caracas, Venezuela and 2003-2006 a sponsored project of New York Foundation of the Arts, a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization. Yanomami Owë Mamotima