The people of the Rio Doce

The aim of my work here is to give a face to the people affected by the dam disaster at the Rio Dode river and to show the individuality of the victims. This selection of staged scenic portraits portray the People of The Rio Doce. For this 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 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.