Mama Coca rethinks the narrative built around coca and examines her prohibition, a plant which has been part of the heritage of native South American communities for thousands of years. It highlights the hope for building a different future through indigenous struggles in a region particularly affected by the violence of Colombian internal conflict.
The photobook brings together a series of photographs taken in the department of Cauca (Colombia) on the indigenous guard and major rituals of Nasa People, with texts and archives.
In the Nasa communities, coca continues to be commonly used and consumed, especially in the practice of rituals. She is a key for spiritual connections. She is chewed during the collection of other plants, as coca helps to identify them. Chewing continues during preparation and rituals. The leaves are also offered to the fire.
Coca is essential in reaffirming indigenous identity after the human, social, and cultural disasters caused by colonialism. She is considered intrinsically linked to communities. For this reason, indigenous authorities claim that consultation is a fundamental right when it comes to her use, particularly for industrial purposes or scientific research.
Indigenous guards, meanwhile, whose batons are not weapons but the only symbolic representation of their authority conferred by the communities, organize the care of the territory and its inhabitants. They are on the front line of a terrible fight against drug trafficking, which recruits many young people and minors from indigenous communities through armed groups operating in the area.
The origin of the investigation lies in the double language surrounding coca, which has existed since colonization, to deconstruct the logic of appropriating an indigenous heritage: prohibited by the religion of the Spanish colonizer, then by anti-drug laws that confuse the plant with the psychotropic product extracted from it (cocaine), it was and continues to be exploited for economic extraction.
The photobook features two examples of appropriation of the plant: the case of Coca-Cola, which continues to use the prohibited plant in its secret formula while initiating legal proceedings against the Colombian indigenous company Coca Nasa for its use of the term coca. And the case of drug trafficking and violence that plunged indigenous communities and their social movement into mourning.
By dismantling the double language of prohibition and economic exploitation, the photobook denounces this expression of colonialism that aims to appropriate indigenous heritage. To contextualize and re-situate the historical depth of the discourse produced about coca, the inclusion of financial documents, press clippings, found photographs, hacked emails, biochemical charts, official documents from agencies such as the DEA and the NSA, among other visual materials, is essential. These elements generate a polyphonic dialogue with the photographs, reinforced and enriched by the voice of the Nasa community, whose presence runs through and brings the book to life. The texts, including a prologue by a senator of the Nasa people, an article by a pre-colonial historian, explanatory notes, quotes from spiritual authorities, and artist statement, further the discussion by multiplying voices, amplifying collaborations and questioning representations.
The book is characterized by its specific materiality. First, the cover paper is made from coca leaves grown in a field belonging to the indigenous Coca Nasa company. Each cover is unique, thanks to the artisanal arrangement of the leaf residues.
Secondly, in addition to the single pages inserted into the Japanese-style binding, the book invites the reader to handle it and read the sequences of images according to the layout on the two types of leaflets, one with two double-sided pages and the other with five double-sided pages. When unfolded, the second leaflet is inspired by the shape of a spiral, in reference to the importance of this symbolic representation in the spirituality of the Nasa people.
Thirdly, four double pages of vellum paper feature horizontal photographs that require specific handling of the double page to view the horizontal image in its entirety.
A separate 60-page booklet, 14 x 18.5 cm, monochrome, provides captions for the photographs and archives, and includes English translations of the Spanish texts included in the photo book.
16,5 x 22,5 cm - 306 pages
Japanese Book-Binding
Bristol Paper 150 and 120 g
Single pages
5 leaflets of 2 pages front/back
7 leaflets of 5 pages front /back
4 double-pages with tissue paper
Paper cover made from coca leaves grown in a field belonging to the indigenous Coca Nasa company
Cover: 150 g Bristol paper and 5 mm paperboard
119 photographs
55 visual archives
6 texts
CREDITS
Photography
Nadège Mazars
Texts
Aïda Quilcué,
Damian Augusto Gonzales Escudero
Nadège Mazars
Investigation
Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo
Nadège Mazars
Visualization
Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo
Edition and Design
Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo
Traduction
Steven Grattan
Samantha Schmidt
Polifona Coop
Printing and binding
Matiz Taller Editorial
Cover
Taller Perros de Agua
Year of publication
2025
Languages
Spanish, English, access to French via a QR code
