Bolivia, 2024
On Lake Titicaca’s Island of the Moon, the Koati community looks to the lake’s giant water frogs, Telmatobius culeus, to call for rain. The community believes that the water frogs are Pachamama’s sacred kin; connectors between the three realms: Hanan Pacha (the upper world–the sky and stars), Kay Pacha (the middle world–Earth and the living), and Ukhu Pacha (the lower world–ancestors and new life). When the lake frogs are out of water, they unleash insistent and tremendous croaks that are said to reach Pachamama. In response to these cries, Pachamama brings rain to the land nurturing all her kin.
Photographs in this series are from nine months in Bolivia researching Andean women’s water rituals and beliefs about frogs made on Nikon F2 with Portra 400 color film and Tri-X 400 black and white film.
Lucy Jackson 