Category: Mentawai

Kornelius lights a paraffin lamp in the traditional Uma clan house in Dorogot hamlet, an isolated community in Siberut’s swamp forest. Electricity has yet to reach Dorogot, but is already being rolled out in neighbouring villages Rogdog and Madobag as part of a Biomass generation scheme.

Head of the clan, an elderly Mentawai ‘Sekerei’ shaman sits on the porth of his uma clan house in Dorogot hamlet.

A Mentawai woman bathes her baby in a traditional Uma clan house in Dorogot hamlet. Siberut Island, part of the Mentawai archipelago in western Indonesia, is recognized as a U.N. Biosphere Reserve due to its outstanding cultural and ecological value.

Skulls of hunted monkeys, hornbill and pigs hang from the rafters in an Uma clan house in Dorogot hamlet. Many Mentawai people still follow an old animist belief system of which this decoration is a part.

Toikot is a traditional shaman healer with his animals inside his traditional Uma house. Siberut Island, part of the Mentawai archipelago in western Indonesia, is recognized as a U.N. Biosphere Reserve due to its outstanding cultural and ecological value.

Toikot (right) is a traditional shaman healer here speaking to his Grandson inside his traditional Uma house. Siberut Island, part of the Mentawai archipelago in western Indonesia, is recognized as a U.N. Biosphere Reserve due to its outstanding cultural and ecological value.