The river: poisoned. The water: undrinkable. The people: desperate and depressed. Cities, villages and acres: inundated with toxic mud and dust- poisoned again and again every rainy season. That’s the situation five years and nine billion Brazilian Reals after the fatal mining dam break at Rio Doce in Brazil that poisoned the river 620 km downriver to the Atlantic Ocean. Nineteen people were killed immediately, entire fish populations eradicated and 1,500 hectares of riparian forest destroyed, turning thousands of people into de facto refugees. With shady juristical tricks the mining company Samarco forces the victims to negotiate for compensation themselves - fishermen, farmers and families against a gigantic international conglomerate owned by Vale SA and BHP Group.From January until August 2020 I have been travelling along the river to document the fate of the people there: How do they cope with the aftermath of the disaster? The proceedings in the five years after this disaster are of critical consequence for all of us, even though few have made the connection between the need for iron ore in the northern hemisphere and the state of mining on the other side of the world. But the dambreak raises other questions: Fresh water is a precious and scarce resource. Who owns it? How is it protected? Who is to decide about it? All in the face of the fact that a quarter of humanity is facing a looming water crisis.The aim of my work is to give a face to the people affected by the dam disaster and to show the individuality of the victims. Please find behind this link the centerpiece of my work - a selection of staged scenic portraits - behind the link People of Rio Doce. For these portraits I set up a white background as stage at the places dear to the portrayed and let them stand in front of them. Taking time, conversing and waiting they soon fell into their own reality, in which I then photographed them.The pictures that came out of this months-long journey along the river not only show how the destruction affects people five years after the actual dambreak. They serve as a portrait of the „Roça“, this usually neglected and starkly underreported hinterland of the state of Minas Gerais specifically of the gigantic Rio Doce bassin.However: as this is by far not the only place in Brazil where mining threatens the lifelyhood of people, please visit this link to see, what happens in Macacos, a small town on the outskirts of Bello Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais.Disclaimer: The flight to Brazil was covered by German Stiftung "Brot für die Welt" and part of the travel costs were paid by German NGO "Bischöfliches Hilfswerk Misereor e.V.". Neither of them had or has any influence on my findings or my way of reporting and telling the story.
