Mining is so deeply rooted in the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais, that it runs in the blood of almost every single citizen – including my own.
The smell of burned iron is familiar and oddly comforting. For years my life revolved around a family iron ore processing plant. Ironically, my grandmother, my mother and I suffer from a genetic disease that prevents the processing of iron in our bodies.
Even though mining is responsible for 15% of Brazilian gross product, it does so at the cost of environmental devastation and social disparities. A few of the numerous side effect of this activity are: semi slavery employment, high levels of prostitution, lack of water, deep air pollution, increase of temperature, deforestation etc. And, historically, I was part of that system.
In November 2015, the collapse of a mining tailings’ dam caused the largest environmental disaster in the country’s history. 10.5 billion gallons of mud It overwhelmed smalls towns and one of the country’s most important watersheds. Since then, mining became the core of my practice and research. For the past 3 years I have been working on a project about mining - focused in Brazil. There, the intensive mining activity has resulted in a radically changed - and decaying - landscape.
The full extent of the human and environmental devastation caused by this accident, and by open pit mines more generally, are obscured by the region’s mountainous terrain, relatively inaccessible to the local population. Working in collaboration with a pilot, I have been photographing from above, sometimes flying in forbidden air space.
Mining also shaped the identity and the challenges faced by local society. I wanted to explore and investigate the emotional relationship between the man and the land so I expanded my investigation to the ground and have been traveling by myself through the regions I had flown above.
Also, the Amazon rainforest is hugely compromised by mining. Currently, 10% of the Brazilian soil is under a concession for one of the hundreds of mining related companies operating there. Many mining towns have already reached -and surpassed - the 2 degree celcius temperature increase, the global agreement.
Every day we are surrounded by metallic components. The computer and the keyboard which I am typing this proposal are part of that chain. o produce a car an average of 4,200 pounds of iron ore is needed. Demand and source urgently need to come to a balance, once the damage is done, there is no way back.
If the land is a body, mining exploration is a violent act of penetration. The new matter is conquered by a constant extirpation where the subject is defenseless.
*ongoing project
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #25
Dry Season. Itabirito, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Mining open pit exploration.
The Itabirito peak is part of Minas Gerais State's cultural heritage. It is a unique monolith in the world, containing 94 million tons of ore. It is part of Mina do Pico mining complex and, as a result of years of tipping and hauling, the surrounding mountain range and the monolith have lost its original configuration.
20°15'01.0"S 43°52’49.0"W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #6
Wet Season. Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Serra Três Irmãos. Brumadinho is the home of the most important Brazilian contemporary art museum, Inhotim. The outdoor museum is an oasis with landscape art by Burle Marx (currently on view at NY Botanical Garden). It hosts art pieces from artists as Yayoi Kusama, Olafur Eliasson, Helio Oiticica, Paul McCarthy, Lygia Pape and, the most important Brazilian documentary photographer and activist, Claudia Andujar. Although the museum is safe, it is surrounded by mines. This is one of them. According to the museum’s recent expansion plans, Inhotim has the potential to generate more job positions than its adjacent mines.
20° 6’39.42" S 44°13’33.03" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #9
Wet Season. Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Alegria Mine | Happiness Mine. Sediments and water interacting in a tailings dam. The Brazilian region known as “Iron Quadrangle” used to be one of the largest iron ore reservoirs in the world. Most of the high quality iron ore reserves were mined. The remaining poor quality reserve require further excavations and cause extensive damage to the landscape, compromising the local bioma and microclimate.
20°10'42.251" S 43°29'27.222" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #28
Dry Season São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo/Barão de Cocais, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In the beginning of February, this mine was forbidden from generating wet tailings by Minas Gerais’ State Public Prosecutor, when a high risk of dam erosion was identified. In April its operations were resumed. A close by mine, Gongo Soco, that dates from the Brazilian gold rush exploration in the early 1800’s, has been risking collapsing for the past 4 months and overwhelming the historical town of Barão de Cocais and Santa Bárbara.
19°52'36.33 "S 43°24'12.311" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #15
Wet Season. Igarapé, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Mining open pit exploration.
Igarapé is also a location for a mineral water mine. Part of one of the most important water reserves in the world, Guarani Aquifer, is partially located in Minas Gerais. The aquifer is under threat due to the abusive deforestation, excavation, water consumption demanded by mining and by farming and use of pesticides.
Most cities, as this one, where mining companies are the main source of employment, people are afraid of speaking up about the health issues and other problems caused by mining. They are afraid of losing their jobs or to cause the company to relocate their business to other areas.
20° 6’53.35" S 44°17’21.94" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #14
Wet Season. Igarapé, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Mining open pit exploration. Scale: truck occupies approximately 1,500 square feet. A mining truck can be as big as 25 feet tall (7.7 meters), 32 feet wide (9.7 meters) and 49 feet long (15 meters). The largest mining truck available is currently in use in Projeto Grande Carajás, Brazil’s largest mining project, located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.
20° 7’20.49” S 44°20’15.65" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #37
Dry Season. Nova Lima & Raposos, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Dam located just above an industrial park, in the limits of Nova Lima and Raposos. There are residences and office spaces in the region below the dam. This specific mine complex explores both sulfuric acid and has an underground gold mine.
19°57'29.381" S 43°50'26.501" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #8 Wet Season. Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Iron Ore tailing dam.
Mining is the main economic activity of this town in which 70% of the registered crimes are violence against women. According to Justice in Rails, with the implementation of a large mining or infrastructure project, including illegal gold and precious stones mining, the is an arrival of large contingent of men, a factor that places women at great risk and vulnerability.
20°13'54.306" S 43°52'54.497" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #23
Dry Season. Linhares, close to Regência, state of Espírito Santo, Brazil In November 2015, a mine’s tailing dam broke releasing 40 billion gallons of mud in one of the country’s most important water sheds, Rio Doce, it was largest environmental accident in Brazil’s history. Photograph taken where Rio Doce river meets the sea, approximately 400 miles from the mine months after the accident.
19°33'30.74"S 39°50'43.74"W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #5
Wet Season. Itabirito, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Tailing dam of an iron ore mine. Mining demands large amounts of water during its production process. Its main uses are for: To wash the ore extracted, for the tailing dam and for transportation when logistics pipes are used.
20°13'54.306" S 43°52'54.497" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #64
Dry Season. Alvorada de Minas & Conceição do Mato Dentro, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Tailing dam of an iron ore mine. In this mine, while excavating, water springs were silted, affecting the water sourcing in almost all rural communities nearby. This mine has the largest ore pipe in the world, that is used to transport ore from the mine to the port in Rio de Janeiro. Ir demands an amount of water enough to source a population of 275,000. The whole region has approximately 25,000 inhabitants. This mining project was recently mapped out by the Minas Gerais State’s Federal University as the State’s most relevant environmental and water conflict. According to a 2014 study by the University of Barcelona, ​Brazil ranks third in the ranking of environmental conflicts.
18°51'7.554" S 43°25'2.73" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #45
Dry Season. São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo/Barão de Cocais, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
According to the 2010 Brazilian census, the city São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo had the 6th highest GDP in the country. 37.8% of the population earns half minimum wage or less and 32.8% of the households have no access to basic sanitation. In Barão de Cocais this numbers are 36.3% e 15.3%, successively.
19°53'27.629" S 43°23'3.858" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #29
Dry Season. Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. This is Brazil’s first large scale corporate mine, founded in 1942 by former Brazilian presidente, Getúlio Vargas. A mine tailing dam is a huge structure that hold the residues of mining explorations - that have current very low market value - mixed with water. In Itabira, the more than 20 dams around the mining explorations occupying around 9.35 square miles. That would be compared to 3,384 soccer fields. Its largest tailing dam recently got an authorization to expand and will have the capacity to hold 58billion gallons of mud. Image made with Large Format Positive Film using a Speed Graphic camera - circa 1940-1950’s - adapted for aerial photography with the help of 2 members of a mining community.
19°37'0.107" S 43°10'55.367" W
Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #100
Mid Season Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In January 25th 2019, this tailing dam collapsed leaving hundreds homeless and taking many lives. 40% of the population remained isolated for 3 months. The full extent of the human and environmental damage caused by this is collapsed is yet to be properly estimated. The company responsible this collapse, and for most tailing dams in immediate risk of collapsing, is one of the largest mining companies in the world.
20°07’9.36” S 44°07’13.02” W
Júlia Pontés
Júlia Pontés (b.1983 - Minas Gerais, Brazil) - Based in Sao Paulo, New York, and Buenos Aires. She is a skilled drone pilot, aerial photographer, photographic printer and her photographic knowledge range from Large Format Film photography to advanced Photoshop skills.