Claudia Andujar
The Lady with the Arrows

  • Germany, Switzerland
  • fr
  • en
  • 88'
Claudia Andujar｜The Lady with the Arrows
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Synopsis

In this moving documentary, photographer Claudia Andujar reflects on her life — from her childhood in Transylvania and the extermination of her father’s family in Dachau, to her exile in Switzerland, her studies in New York, and her eventual discovery of Brazil, where she settled in 1955.

Unable to speak the language, she turned photography into her own form of expression — a way to connect with others and, soon, her profession. Her encounter in the early 1970s with the Yanomami people of the Amazon profoundly transformed both her work and her life.

Initially guided by an experimental documentary approach that sought to capture the intangible and spiritual dimension of Yanomami culture, she later abandoned her artistic career to dedicate herself fully to their struggle for recognition and for the protection of their territory, threatened by deforestation and gold mining.

This film retraces a lifetime of commitment — the power of photography as both witness and instrument of resistance — and the continuation of these struggles today, now carried forward by indigenous youth taking up the camera to make their voices heard.

What you will find in this film

A lifetime of commitment to the Yanomami people • seeing with the soul • becoming one with the subject • the importance of the human element • an experimental documentary approach • photography as witness and tool of resistance

Keywords

Nature & Landscape Reportage & Society Analogue Photography Masters of Photography
My photography is documentary and human.
To get close to people, you have to wait until they accept you. You have to wait for that moment, to gain the person’s trust, their willingness or interest to be photographed. And when you look at someone, you can feel whether they have accepted you or not.
I found in the Yanomami something that represented life. They and I were together, and that is what I have always sought: people who are part of me, and me a part of them.
You and we have a common history. You were the beginning of this history, and we are the ones who a continuing to write it today. Your photos are like a tender hand that touches people’s souls. Our films are like a hand that clenches into a fist. The present time cries out for our camera to turn into a weapon.

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The authors/artists

Claudia Andujar
Claudia Andujar
Photographer
Heidi Specogna
Heidi Specogna
Film director

Further exploration

Bibliography

Resources

Instagram

Thyago Nogueira ; CLAUDIA ANDUJAR ; Photo Poche ; Actes Sud ; 2025 

Thyago Nogueira ; CLAUDIA ANDUJAR: THE YANOMAMI STRUGGLE ; Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain ; 2020

Presentation of the Claudia Andujar retrospective at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris

An interactive history of Claudia Andujar’s life and work, dedicated to the Yanomami struggle