Yosep Levi hails from Maumere, Flores, where his ancestors once lived north of Mount Gai before being relocated to villages during the Dutch colonial era for the purposes of education and the spread of the Catholic faith. After the relocation, his grandparents returned to living in a house on the garden land for economic reasons, and since childhood Yosep often visited the garden, staying overnight at his grandfather’s house where he would listen to the sounds of birds and learn about the symbols of nature from his elders, grandmother, and aunts. Following high school, he left home to continue his education in Jayapura, Papua, spending over a decade there and meeting indigenous people from various tribes, from whom he learned about the forest as the mother of life for humanity and why indigenous Papuans fight to defend their forests from large corporations such as palm oil companies. Now returned to Maumere, Yosep frequently goes to the garden to tend to the land while making documentaries about local stories, including one project featuring his father and aunt.
@yosep.levi