Humid(c)ity

  • Dates
    2010 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Daily Life, Contemporary Issues, Documentary
  • Location Amazonas, Brazil

'Humid(C)ity' debates on how people relate to the urban space opposed to nature, specially in Manaus and in its surroundings: towns, communities, villages cut by igarapés (streams) and rivers, also surrounded by green, however very often in disharmony with them.

'Humid(C)ity' debates on how people relate to the urban space opposed to nature, specially in Manaus and in its surroundings: towns, communities, villages cut by igarapés (streams) and rivers, also surrounded by green, however very often in disharmony with them.

Though the alledged metropolitan area of Manaus is surrounded by the jungle and mighty rivers Manaus is nevertheless the second least greened state capital in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and it is also one of the worst in the ranking of access to basic sanitation. At the same time as human beings and the urban growth exert pressure on nature, the daily living in the region shows that nature exerts not only influence but also a counter pressure. This project seeks to question which marks have been left on both sides, as well as in the author.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A fire in a residential area in the northern part of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on September 9, 2009, is contained with the work of the residents who took water from an artesian well dug in the region, as firefighters had difficulty reaching the place and they did not have enough water to fight the flames.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A man dives into the waters of Negro River, in the Village of Paricatuba, Amazonas, Brazil, on July 7th, 2015. The village of Paricatuba, located on the left bank of the Rio Negro, in front of Manaus which is located int the right bank, is now a quiet rural area where people go to bathe in the river. However, it has already been a segregation site for leprosy patients.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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People have fun at the Castanho Waterfall in Iranduba, Amazonas, Brazil, on November 2nd, 2015. The date, Day of the Dead, is held in popular wisdom as the beginning of the flood period of the Mzonic rivers.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A thick layer of smoke covers the eastern zone of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on July 21st, 2016. The eastern zone of the city is considered to be the most deprived of basic care, such as sanitation and education, but also concentrates several industries who arrived in the State of Amazonas with the creation of the Free Trade Zone created in 1957 and perfected in a government decree of 1967, with the purpose of boosting the economic development of the Western Amazon.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A chameleon that was run over by a car is seen on Governador José Lindoso Avenue, one of the main roads of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on July 31, 2016. The growth of the city and the construction of roads like this, which was inaugurated in December 2010 , exerts great pressure on the fauna and flora of Manaus.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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The flag of the state of Amazonas travels on the bow of a boat that crosses the Negro river towards Manaus on August 27, 2016. The rivers represent the natural paths in the Amazon region due to the difficulties of building roads and railways.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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The view of the Bairro do Educandos, one of the oldest, from the area called 'Modern Manaus' (Modern Manaus) on December 8th, 2016. Manaus Moderna should be the beginning of a great work that would accompany the entire Negro River shore in Manaus, from the South Zone to the West Zone, but it has become a decadent and full of problems port area in the city center.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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An Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) jumps out of the waters of Rio Negro, near a floating platform where tourists can interact with animals in Novo Airão, Amazonas, Brazil, on February 28th, 2017. The wounds in the body of the animal denounce that the proximity of the man with the nature, sometimes in the predatory tourism, leaves its marks.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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Five brothers jump on the Negro River from a boat called 'Five Brothers' named in honor of them, in the Archipelago of Anavilhanas, Amazonas, Brazil, on February 28th, 2017. The waters are the main means of leisure in the riverside areas of the Amazon region.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A young woman kisses her boyfriend as he takes her in a canoe through the streets of Anama, Amazonas, Brazil, on June 7, 2017. Located on the left bank of the Solimões River and also bathed by a lake, the town faces two to three months of complete flooding every year.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A family seeking leisure in the port area of São Raimundo, West Zone of Manaus, on November 3, 2017. Despite being an area polluted by the presence of many ferries and boats, people seek waters in the location for leisure, especially on long holidays, during the sunniest time of the year in the region.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A boy uses a wooden pallet to store the plastic bottles he collects on the edge of Negro river, in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on November 11, 2017. Many people take advantage of the materials thrown into the river to guarantee some income by taking them for recycling in Manaus, a city that suffers from the absence of selective collection of garbage, basic sanitation and with the bad habit of its population in throwing things in the waterways.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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Two men work on the stern of a ship that sank on the waterfront of the Manaus Center, Amazonas, Brazil, on April 17th, 2018, to collect the maximum assets of the boat. The rainiest period in the region between February and May causes strong gusts of wind causing cidentes and lead barcosa to turn and to sink in the region.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A girl plays in an air bubble in a dammed river water small park in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on July 7, 2018. Fun in the water is the favorite show of many families also in the big city.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A woman floats in the waters of Lake Aleixo, east of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on August 14, 2018. With the beginning of the ebb of the rivers, after June, the Lake Aleixo is one of the preferred destinations of the population of the region.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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People embark on boats that stop at the 'Manaus Moderna' ferries on August 22, 2018. The Manaus Moderna should be the beginning of a great work that would follow the whole shore of Negro River shore in Manaus, from the South Zone to the West Zone, but it has become a decadent and full of problems port area in the city center.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A man is seen sleeping under a ferry in the São Raimundo port area, west of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on October 21st, 2018. Most of the areas near the river in Manaus are also areas of prostitution and of excessive consumption of drugs and alcohol.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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Children take advantage of the drought of the Rio Negro enjoy the appearance of a beach on the right bank of the Negro River, in the countryside Amazonas, Brazil, on December 1, 2018. The ebb of the rivers of the Amazon region begins at the end of October, or as popular wisdom says, in the Day of the Dead.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A boy looks for flying kites at the sky during the sunset on the neighbourhood of Sao Raimundo, in the west region of Manaus, on May 27th, 2016. The west zone of Manaus is located next to Negro River where thousands of children seek leisure.

© Raphael Alves - A boy sits next to the Negro River to watch the sunset on May, 27th, 2016, in manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
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A boy sits next to the Negro River to watch the sunset on May, 27th, 2016, in manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.

© Raphael Alves - Tambaqui fish is seen in a market in Iranduba, Amazonas Brazil, on June, 26th, 2016.
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Tambaqui fish is seen in a market in Iranduba, Amazonas Brazil, on June, 26th, 2016.

© Raphael Alves - Man sail a private boat in Negro River, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on August, 27th, 2016.
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Man sail a private boat in Negro River, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on August, 27th, 2016.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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An indigenous woman walks through a green area in Parque das Tribos (Park of the Tribes), the first and only completely indigenous neighbourhood in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on february 15th, 2017.

© Raphael Alves - Image from the Humid(c)ity photography project
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A Warao indigenous child seeks shelter from the rain wrapped in a blanket, under the Ayrton Senna Viaduct in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, on May 9th, 2017. According to the Manaus city government a population of around 400 Warao natives ran away from their country --Venezuela-- because of the economical and political crisis, towards Manaus, where they have been living in awful conditions next to the Bus station and under the Ayrton Senna viduct.

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