In the Mapudungun language, the concept of küme mogñen means a good life, or a harmonious balance between the individual, the community, and nature. Borrowing the expression from the Mapuche people, the photographer Patrik Rastenberger (born 1964) and the sociologist Sergio Prudant’s (born 1962) Küme Mogñen project asks what cultural, ethical and philosophical issues are associated with health care when perceptions of health, humanity and the world of an indigenous people come into conflict with the dominant Chilean culture.

Where the Western solution to diseases is found in medicine, for the Mapuche people, physical and social environments are an integral part of holistic health care. Nor can health be discussed without talking about land rights. For decades, indigenous peoples have been calling for solutions to address well-being as an issue that transcends human individuals and the human species, as the Western lifestyle, based on economic growth and consumption, has reached a crisis point due to the global environmental disaster that it has caused. Neither is a consensus between the conflicting views being promoted by the military-linked police continuing to wage state violence against the Mapuche, or by the militarisation of their native Araucanía Region in southern Chile.

Rastenberger created the project together with Sergio Prudant, who, at a community mental health conference held in Chile in 2017, met Mapuche anthropologists who had developed a mental health care system for the Mapuche people. During the photography trip, Rastenberger was joined by the sociologist Danilo Ríos Poblete.

The photography series was realised with support from the Patricia Seppälä Foundation.

︎ Website Patrik Rastenberger