Intimate Photos Documenting the Lives of Bolivia’s Mennonites

Sep. 11, 2012

During the ’50s, the Bolivian government encouraged Mennonites from nearby countries like Mexico and Belize to relocate to Santa Cruz, a province in the eastern part of their own country; in exchange for being allowed to preserve their ancestral way of life — no cars, electricity, or telephones — they would establish farms and help provide a needed boost to the economy. Decades later, an estimated 50,000 Mennonites are living in Bolivia, spread out through more than 50 different communities. Jordi Ruiz Cirera, a London-based Spanish photographer, has been documenting the country’s “Menonos” and their increasingly difficult to maintain isolation from contemporary society, as part of a long-term project. Click through for a rare peek into their fascinating lives, as spotted by Feature Shoot.

Photo credit: Jordi Ruiz Cirera