WILD RITUALS: Painted Bodies

Produced by: Patricio Robles Gil Text by: Federico Reyes Heroles Body painting is the most ancient communication between humans, nature, and the spirit. For our ancestors, it was - at once - an art, a prayer, and a pledge of relationship. Truly, their lives depended upon it. As ancient as it is, this most primitive ritual retains the power to transform us. Through extraordinary tests by one of Mexico's greatest opinion leaders - Federico Reyes Heroles - and extraordinary illuminating images by some of the world's best photographers - WILD RITUALS: Painted Bodies tells the story of a contemporary resurrection of this ancient ritual. In the old hacienda in northern Yucatan, Mexico, at the 9th World Wilderness Congress, WILD 9, art, conservation, and spiritual invocation combined to create a timeless expression of human connection with, and celebration of, wilderness and people. During a tropical evening in November 2009, a militia of modern shamans - artists, models, and nature photo