The exhibition presents photographs and films on Central and South America selected from three centuries. The black-and-white photographs from the Department of American Ethnology's collection are enriched by works from the collection of the Museum of European Cultures.

While the black-and-white photographs primarily depict the way people lived in the second half of the 19th century, the colour photographs seen on monitors bring the exhibition up the present day. The colour pictures were taken by two photographers, Fridmar Damm and Santiago Engelhardt, who spent time recording life in towns and villages at the turn of the century just gone.

The pictures provide an insight into the ethnographic collection from South America which has never been on show before. The pictures are enriched by film sequences that depict various themes and regions from South America.