collaborative documentary

Installation

(photographs, videos, texts, drawings, objects)

dimensions variable

2014 - 2018

Dead Water tells the story of dams and hydroelectricity from the perspectives of the people who have been affected by these ventures in Brazil stitched together with my own background as a trained photographer, ecologist, and individual. It engages with the nature and magnitude of the intangible costs of hydropower. The work deals with the lives of families (riverside dwellers) who have been affected by the construction of dams for hydropower purposes in three different regions of Brazil. It is driven by portraits that are co-created by each participant of the project and myself, based on what each sitter stresses as remarkable concerning the situation they have faced as a consequence of the hydropower plant project. During the photo shoot, participants were invited to check and modify their own portrait until they considered the image they saw tallied with the discourse they wanted to present to the viewers. Moreover, by gathering further information with participants, sentimental landscapes of their loss were reconstructed.

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A glimpse on the Dead Water book is available here.

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This work was undertaken with the financial support of the CNPq Scholarship Programme and the Royal Photographic Society Awards. 

 

It was also undertaken with the vital support of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens - MAB, Brazil).