In 1975, Barbata attended Universidad Motolinia in Mexico City, where she studied architecture and began drawing. After college she focused on her art and began creating a body of work that focused on the environment, roles of women, religion, and her Mexican heritage. She sketched drawings, recalling cave drawings in antiquity, using charcoal on large Japanese paper and coated them with beeswax. After initially drawing on both store-bought and found papers, she began to make paper in her studio, which led to several series of artworks. Her love of papermaking grew and in time it became the primary medium of expression in her artwork.  In 1992, Barbata traveled to Caracas, Venezuela, through an art award from Eco Art and was introduced by a Venezuelan artist to a community of Yanomami, a group of indigenous people who number nineteen thousand and live within the Amazon rain forests in Brazil and Venezuela. Barbata explains, “I was told by Venezuelan artists that in the Amazon there are people whose utilitarian objects look very much like my sculptures. I wanted to meet them and see their work. I was hoping I could learn from them.” She visited a small community of one hundred and fifty Yanomami in Mahekoto (Platanal) located within the Amazon rain forests of Venezuela. Although the Yanomami speak a native language (also called Yanomami), their leaders communicated with Barbata in Spanish and she was accepted into the group. Her visit took her through Mahekoto and several surrounding communities, where she visited the local mission, school, and rainforest. She was shown the many crafts fabricated from plant fibers, tree bark, and limbs, including baskets, canoes, and hammocks. The crafts created were utilitarian objects as well as forms of expression through drawn decorations. Her instinct was to collaborate with the group on a project that would express their artistic ability and observations, help empower them, and also inspire her progression within her artwork. After visiting the local mission and school, Barbata noticed a growing problem within the community. Although the Yanomami Intercultural Schools received textbooks distributed by the Venezuelan Ministry of Education, these often included information useless to their everyday lives. The culture and teachings for the larger populace of Venezuela often did not translate to that of the Yanomami’s tightly knit group. Each semester students received new textbooks that would also function as workbooks and therefore were used only once. Many of these books piled up in corners in the school, creating waste within the community. The community’s solution was to incinerate the books, which was often detrimental to their environment. Besides the chemicals in the machine-made paper polluting the air, incinerating rather than recycling increased the use of paper and therefore increased the number of acres of trees being removed from the rain forests. Barbata saw an opportunity to assist the Yanomami with these problems and, in turn, give them another means of expression. In addition to their craftsmanship, the Mahekoto community also relied on a traditional way of living practiced by their ancestors. The elders passed on orally instructions for doing tasks such as building houses, gathering food, and hunting. The belief system, daily responsibilities, and roles of men and women were based on stories that were passed from generation to generation. These stories were vital for day-to-day operations. With the implementation of local schools, literacy, and religious conversion, the role and importance of the oral tradition was greatly diminished with much of the traditional knowledge in danger of being lost. Preserving their heritage was the backbone to their existence because it distinguished their community from surrounding ones and from the dominant culture in Venezuela.  The project began after Barbata approached the Yanomami about learning one of their crafts. She asked the Yanomami if they would teach her how to build a canoe. They asked what she could teach them in exchange. She presented them with the idea of making paper and books so that they could record and read their history and traditions, on paper and in their own words. She hoped they would also use the new craft to sustain their environment and improve their economy. The community was receptive to the idea and she returned for a second trip to Mahekoto equipped with small-scale papermaking equipment, such as plastic tubs, Western-style moulds and deckles constructed from stretchers and screening, a handmade Japanese sugeta, and the substitute felt-like material known as Pellon.  Barbata began in the schools, teaching the children how to harvest locally available plants and to collect paper refuse. These were retted or soaked and macerated by hand. Plants throughout the surrounding rain forest were cooked and tested for their papermaking abilities. (Barbata has since compiled a paper log of over one hundred test samples produced there and in surrounding areas using indigenous plant fibers.) In the end, the fibers locally identified as shiki, kurathasi, curawa, and yama furnished the best results, producing soft papers resilient enough to used for drawing and writing. (Unfortunately, neither botanical nor common Western names for these plants have yet been identified.) Stations were set up with vats and couching areas where all of the children could dip into the vat and get their hands wet. Paper was pressed between two large flat rocks and then left to dry in the sun on drying racks constructed by the community leaders.  The papermaking process was not easy. Paper was made both outside and inside the school, which had crumbling walls and only very basic facilities. During the day, students would learn the process within the school. In the afternoon, papermaking would move outside the classroom so that adults would have the opportunity to get involved. Although the group lives along the Orinoco River, water had to be carried to the papermaking site. This lack of running water and the absence of electricity made the process very labor intensive. Puddles of water settled on the site, creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which increased the incidence of malaria already prevalent. With intense, 99% humidity and sometimes little sunshine, drying the paper could take days. Bugs also began eating the drying paper and remaining pulp, creating an infestation. During Barbata’s visits, the people would often go on a wayumi, a social trip intended to create strong political and social ties with neighboring communities. Papermaking would stop during these trips, which lasted up to thirty days, resuming only once the group returned. Despite these obstacles, papermaking caught on and almost everyone was participating and learning the craft. Children drew on the finished paper using plant-based inks traditionally used on their hand-woven baskets. Barbata taught them all to cut woodblocks and print on the handmade paper. The images told the stories and traditions passed down by the elders of the Yanomami community. Envelopes were made by hand and Barbata took the paper and stationery sets back to the United States to sell, raising money to further fund the project. The Yanomami community and Barbata decided to use these sales to generate revenue and they increased the production of paper. The Yanomami Owe Mamotima (“The Yanomami Art of Making Paper”) initiative was born. Under Barbata's direction, the Yanomami began the Shapono book project. It would document in words and images on handmade paper the customs of the Yanomami people. This limited edition book was completed in 2000 and told the traditional story of how the first house was built in the Yanomami culture. Husband-and-wife team leaders Juan Bosco Hakihiiwe and Amanda Hakihiiwe worked with Barbata to oversee the book’s production. Images in the book were drawn and hand-cut by children, then printed by the men. The women bound the pages into books. The project brought the community together and created a handcrafted record that preserves one of the traditions of the Yanomami culture. At the same time, the environment within their small region was improved because there was less paper refuse and less incineration of garbage. The Shapono book project was important because it was the first recorded history of the Yanomami people ever written, illustrated, and produced by them. Since the completion of Shapono, local politicians, activists, and missionaries have cited the Yanomami Paper Project as the only project effective in rebuilding this community, by strengthening and promoting their culture and giving them project ownership.  Since the start of her travels to Venezuela, Barbata has continued to monitor and nurture the progress of Yanomami Owe Mamotima. She has traveled between her home base of New York City and Mahekoto many times in the past dozen years. The project has sparked additional initiatives within the surrounding areas of the Yanomami territory and in neighboring indigenous communities. The Hakihiiwes conducted papermaking workshops and lectured at a National Craft Fair in Colombia in the fall of 2002. Within the region, the community of Apocaxita has already had some training in papermaking, Puerto Ayacucho has requested training workshops and exhibited the Yanomami paper products, and people in Mavaca, Maraquita, and Esmeralda have all expressed interest. Papermaking workshops have been scheduled for fall 2004 through spring 2005 and will be led by the Hakihiiwes with assistance from the Yanomami papermaking team. Barbata has continued to support and monitor the project as it grows.  In 2002, Barbata received funding from the Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation to purchase and install a Hollander beater for the Yanomami Paper Project. Since the Yanomami community lacks electricity, it has been housed in a temporary space offered by the local mission in Platanal. The incorporation of this vital piece of equipment has improved the quality of paper and increased the speed of production. The beater was constructed by Peter Thomas in California and has been retrofitted to adapt it to the facility. Barbata has continued to apply for funding in hopes of purchasing both solar panels for electricity and a hydraulic press. Several individuals have generously given their own time and expertise to the project. Mina Takahashi and Paul Wong, Director and Artistic Director, respectively, at Dieu Donné Papermill, have been advisors to the project and have assisted in testing fibers. Melissa Potter, Program Director at New York Foundation for the Arts, was instrumental in obtaining the only funding this project has received to date. Clayton Kirking, from the New York Public Library, has advised on the edition of Shapono. In 1999 Barbata became a member of the Sistema Nacional para Creadores and CONACULTA. The Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (the National Fund for Arts and Culture, in Mexico) awarded her a grant for her work. In 2004, theYanomami Owe Mamotima initiative under the name The Rainforest Paper Project, became a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts.  Since the completion of Shapono, ten institutions (including the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, Princeton University, Stanford University, The New School, and the University of Miami) have purchased the book for their collections. The introduction of Shapono into these reputable libraries and universities throughout the United States is a first step in educating the public and in preserving the Yanomami culture, which has often been misrepresented. Income received from sales of Shapono will be reinvested into the project to improve equipment and purchase supplies to increase the capabilities for production of future books and paper. The production of a second book is now in the beginning stages. The second edition will tell the clever story of how the Yanomami first obtained fire by stealing it from a crocodile’s stomach. The Yanomami see the book project as an opportunity to educate outsiders of their beliefs. In 2002, Barbata began working with a local school in Grand Riviere, Trinidad, which has since adopted papermaking into its curriculum. This effort has developed into a self-sustaining project that produces handmade paper and prints, which are sold both locally and in the capital, Port of Spain. Accrued funds are reinvested in the school to fund materials, books, and other needs. The same year, Barbata began planning another paper project in the Lacandon Rain Forest of Chiapas, Mexico. Like her effort with the Yanomami, this project will address the lack of books and written materials available to the Lacandon community and help preserve their language and traditions. Barbata has met with the leaders of the community and hopes to start a papermaking initiative that will incorporate local fibers and recycled paper.  When asked why she has initiated these projects Barbata answers, “Through my work as an artist, I look to answer the question: What can art do? For this reason I look beyond the traditional studio work discipline to initiate and develop social and community projects as well as find the appropriate medium [in which] to work and develop concepts.” Barbata has consistently given her time, skills, funds, and unending energy to initiate and maintain these projects. She says, “For me the biggest reward is when I can see that my work has made a difference in someone’s life, that it has helped them to feel proud of the power that knowledge brings them.” The knowledge and skills generously offered to her by the Yanomami and other communities will continue to have an impact on her own artwork and life. In exchange she has passed on the arts of hand papermaking, printmaking, and bookmaking to groups that would not otherwise have access to these skills. When asked what she sees in her future, Barbata answers, “I would like to see the Yanomami Owe Mamotima project participants visiting and teaching the Lacandon Paper Project and vice versa: a true exchange amongst people who share a life in the rainforest and who face many of the same challenges.”  Note: Those interested in learning more about these projects, donating equipment, or purchasing Shapono or the instructional video How to Make Paper in the Yanomami Territory can contact Laura Anderson Barbata at lbarbata@sprynet.com. Shapono and the paper log from Yanomami Owe Mamotima are currently housed at Dieu Donné Papermill and can be viewed by appointment.