Amazon: People, Forest, Frontlines
Fieldwork over multiple trips records everyday life and the pressures on the forest—land conflicts, illegal mining, fires, and adaptation to extreme seasons - centering the strength of Amazonian people.
I have returned to the Amazon more than fifteen times to report what is changing—and what refuses to. On some trips I found rivers at historic lows after back-to-back drought years, isolating communities. On others I worked waist-deep in floodwater, photographing families shifting homes and routines between extremes. Deforestation has fallen and risen during this time, but the pressure never lets up.
I travel to the Amazon to see beyond the postcard. I have walked illegal mining sites and their tailings; even as raids expand, the scars stay, and mercury still shows up in Yanomami hair and fish, while malnutrition and malaria keep shadowing daily life. I’ve documented slave-like labor allegations, the cattle pushing the forest line. On backroads and the Transamazônica I learned what scarcity costs; in Yanomami lands I learned what dignity resists. The conflicts over land are relentless, with threats and attacks spreading across the arc of deforestation.
Still, resilience is the headline the data can’t hold. I keep returning to the Amazon because it refuses to be only a forest. It teaches humility.These photographs are my ledger of gratitude and alarm - a record of a region fighting for a future that must include those who have kept it alive.
Caption: A dead Brazil nut tree (castanheira) stands in Jamanxim National Forest, Pará, Brazilian Amazon. Although loggers often leave Brazil nut trees standing, many later die as surrounding deforestation alters the microclimate, dries soils, and damages root networks.