Ritratti e fotografie di famiglia tra gli indigeni wichís (Chaco, Argentina)

The article reflects on the significance of certain photo- graphic portraits and old family photographs for some indigenous wi- chís of the Argentine Chaco. If in the photographic portraits taken at their request one notices, from the poses they assume, a certain conventionalism, in the photographs taken by a young indigenous boy a marked creativity emerges, and in the family photographs shown to me one perceives a vivid desire to preserve historical memory through images. Each photograph is followed by a story, a comment, a kind of ekfrasis that guides the shot or accompanies the moment when old photo- graphs are shown. Photographs are like life stories: choral and personal at the same time, they prompt reflection on their meaning and value and on the meaning they have from the point of view of their materia- lity and the emotions they convey. This is the main objective of the article, which is followed by that of the desired restitution. It is therefore not a review of studies on the role of photography in anthropological and indigenous studies, but rather a reflection that can be shared with the protagonists of the images and stories.