Resist - Not to forget

© Fernanda Brandão - The ruins of a house in Bento Rodrigues taken by plants and creating a contrast of life in chaos. © Fernanda Brandão - Image from the Resist - Not to forget photography project © Fernanda Brandão - Some objects found around the city have been there since the 2015 tragedy. View all images ↓
View all images ↓
  • Dates
    2018 - 2018
  • Author
  • Topics Documentary, Contemporary Issues
  • Location Minas Gerais, Brazil

This project portrays the two main communities impacted by the rupture of the Fundão Dam - Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo in 2018, two and a half years after the disaster.

In the afternoon of November 5th, 2015, the iron ore tailings dam known as Fundão, owned by Samarco, one of the world’s largest mining companies controlled by Vale S.A and BHP Billiton, collapsed in Mariana city, in the state of Minas Gerais - Brazil, spreading millions of cubic meters of tailings on the environment, leaving 19 deaths and several communities buried in the mud.

The mud trail was spread for 650 kilometers between the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, destroying families, cities, forests, and rivers. More than 39 million cubic meters of mining waste traveled along the Gualaxo, Carmo, and Doce rivers to the Atlantic Ocean causing damage to the ecosystems, especially the Doce river - a large and important river in the region that was highly contaminated by iron ore tailings, culminating in cities without water and fishermen without work and food.

Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo were the first communities affected by the mud. Bento Rodrigues was impacted in less than 15 minutes after the collapse. After hearing the noise of the breakdown, the residents only had time to run to the nearest high point with only their clothes on.

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The project “Resist - not to forget”, portrays the two main communities impacted by the rupture of the Fundão Dam - Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo in 2018, two and a half years after the event. Resistant to mud and time, these lands bring memories, not allowing Brazil’s worst socio-environmental tragedy and one of the world’s largest mining disasters to be forgotten. It is always necessary to rescue this fact, because even if the victims have their cities rebuilt and the guilty ones are punished, the loss of home causes the loss of cultural identities and references, bringing disorders and traumas that are not healed with any compensation.

© Fernanda Brandão - The ruins of a house in Bento Rodrigues taken by plants and creating a contrast of life in chaos.
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The ruins of a house in Bento Rodrigues taken by plants and creating a contrast of life in chaos.

© Fernanda Brandão - Image from the Resist - Not to forget photography project
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"Danger - prohibited to stay in this area", sign at the entry of Bento Rodrigues. Although the city is in ruins, many old residents often visit the city and meet there. This signs are scattered among what is left of the community.

© Fernanda Brandão - Some objects found around the city have been there since the 2015 tragedy.
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Some objects found around the city have been there since the 2015 tragedy.

© Fernanda Brandão - Image from the Resist - Not to forget photography project
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More than 39 million cubic meters of mining waste travelled along the Gualaxo river until it met the Doce river and then the Atlantic Ocean.

© Fernanda Brandão - The window of the municipal school of Paracatu de Baixo.
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The window of the municipal school of Paracatu de Baixo.

© Fernanda Brandão - View of the ruins of the city of Paracatu de Baixo through the window of the municipal school.
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View of the ruins of the city of Paracatu de Baixo through the window of the municipal school.

© Fernanda Brandão - The Paracatu de Baixo Municipal School library, which was on the second floor of the school, was also hit by the mud.
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The Paracatu de Baixo Municipal School library, which was on the second floor of the school, was also hit by the mud.

© Fernanda Brandão - One of the classrooms of Paracatu de Baixo Municipal School covered by dry mud.
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One of the classrooms of Paracatu de Baixo Municipal School covered by dry mud.

© Fernanda Brandão - The dry mud inside the Paracatu de Baixo Municipal School.
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The dry mud inside the Paracatu de Baixo Municipal School.

© Fernanda Brandão - Image from the Resist - Not to forget photography project
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Crosses left by the old residents of Bento Rodrigues in memory of those who did not survive the tragedy. In total, 19 people died.

© Fernanda Brandão - Image from the Resist - Not to forget photography project
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Some objects found around the city have been there since the 2015 tragedy. This Brazilian t-shirt represents what this tragedy was for the Brazilian people. The disruption of the Fundão dam is considered the industrial disaster that caused the largest socio-environmental impact in Brazilian history and the largest in the world involving tailings dams.

Resist - Not to forget by Fernanda Brandão

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