What happened to you personally and/or to the team in between?
For me personally, it was a fascinating topic. The things I learned definitely opened my eyes. I am certain that just a few other topics would have been able to do it in such a manner. The people I have met during the process of creating were one of a kind. For example my friend Rudolf Isenschmid, a guy who has been with the Penan on multiple occasions, or the photographer Tomas Wüthrich, who kindly allowed me to use his phenomenal pictures. Additionally, I started to appreciate what I actually have and how good we have it here in Switzerland. The problems we are facing are almost non-existent in comparison to what the Penan face on a daily basis. It is almost incomprehensible for us, having to fight for our homes, for example.
What kind of knowledge and experience could you achieve?
I realized, that I do not need much to be happy. This might sound a bit like something a lot of people would say, but to see how the Penan live really opened my eyes. Through the interview, I was able to experience second hand what it means to interact with this special tribe. When I spoke with the photographer who was with the Penan in 2019 and took amazing pictures, which helped me to immerse into the project even better.
How biased has your perception of the “real world” been?
Really bias actually, the conception of my world in comparison to the life on Borneo is vastly different. The problems we face could not be more different. We feel like we got screwed over when the train does not come on time, but they fight for the home on a daily basis. They need to protect their home against the illegal logging, an issue they did not cause themselves but have to carry the consequences. Just because we, the rest of the world want the tropical woods and their own governments need space for agriculture. It definitely helped me to realize how privileged we have it here in Switzerland.
Did your guesses correspond?
Up to a certain degree for sure, but also not really. I have heard a lot during past conversations with my interview partner. But through the interview I started to ask questions I have not asked before, through that it has changed my point of view on the indigenous tribe from Borneo and on my own life. I fulfilled my goals for my project, I created something I can be proud of, something which can help to rethink and change the view of the world. At least a little bit.