AMAZÔNIA - Rencontres photographiques de Guyane
Town hall of Cayenne, French Guiana
November 20, 2021 - February 3, 2022
This year, the Rencontres photographiques de Guyane in Cayenne focus on Amazonia.
On this occasion, Carmignac Award 10th laureate Tommaso Protti's exhibition AMAZÔNIA is presented on the gates of Cayenne's City Hall from 20th November 2021 to 3rd February 2022. His film "Life and Death in the Brazilian Amazon" will also be screened throughout the biennial.
From January to July 2019, Italian photojournalist Tommaso Protti, accompanied by British journalist Sam Cowie, travelled thousands of miles across the Brazilian Amazon to create this reportage. From the eastern region of Maranhão to the western region of Rondônia, through the states of Pará and Amazonas, they portrayed life in modern day Brazilian Amazon, where social and humanitarian crises overlap with the ongoing destruction of the rainforest, lungs of the planet.
The Amazon is a vast region covering the territory of nine nations: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The region has a surface area of 5,500,000 km2 and is crossed by the Amazon river, the second longest river in the world and the largest by discharge volume of water. The Amazon alone accounts for half of the remaining tropical forests on the planet. It is home to 70% of the world’s biodiversity and to one in ten of the world’s species. This territory is home to 30 million people, including 350 indigenous groups, most of whom live in their natural habitats, but the development of economic activities in the region mean that this ecosystem is under more threat than ever before.
Since 1999 at least 2,200 new species have been discovered in the Amazon biome, but with 17% of the Amazon’s surface area already destroyed, the rainforest is increasingly vulnerable. Responsibility for the degradation and destruction of this fragile natural environment lies with climate change, but also human activity. The consequences are multiple and both local and global: greenhouse gas emissions, destruction of biodiversity, hydrological alterations and even soil erosion.
Les Rencontres photographiques de Guyane
Created 10 years ago, Les Rencontres photographiques de Guyane is the only photography festival in the French Overseas departments. It aims to provide author's photography the place it deserves within the French Guynanese cultural landscape. It showcasts both internationally known and local photographers.
Visit website
#RencontresPhotographiquesdeGuyane
AMAZÔNIA
TOMMASO PROTTI
Tommaso Protti (Italy, 1986) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. He started his career as a photographer in 2011 after graduating in Political Science and International Relations. Since then, he has devoted himself on creating his own long-term projects. His work has been exhibited internationally at The Royal Albert Hall (London), Greenwich Heritage Centre (Woolwich, UK), Benaki Museum (Athens), MACRo (Rome), 10b Photography gallery (Rome), Fotoleggendo festival (Rome), Les Rencontres d’Arles festival (France), Prix Bayeux- Calvados des Correspondants de guerre festival (France), Belfast Photo festival (Ireland), C40 Mayors Summit (Mexico City), UN COP22 (Marrakesh, Morocco), PARTE Contemporary Art Fair (São Paulo, Brazil). His photographs have been published in major titles including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, National Geographic, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Independent, Le Monde, Corriere della Sera, among others. He also works with international organizations such as the United Nations. Tommasois a member of Angustia.
