Nicolas Perez-Brito
Nicolas Perez-Brito, Los Cocos born and raised.
A princely dignity and great intelligence are found in all the people of this native life-style family. 42 years old in this photo, the lavender cotton t-shirt was dyed as a demonstration with local Logwood.
The use of Logwood for black hair dye has not been forgotten, but the dyeing of textiles was not part of this culture's heritage. Textiles were limited to fishing nets and softly spun, handwoven native cotton loincloths.
Today, most people wear western clothing: used cast-offs of the tourists, or brought in by container load (all the stuff that Goodwill doesn't sell is sent to Third World countries).
Photo © 2000 Cheryl Kolander