O FUTURO

Editorial and audiovisual project that explores the Alto Paraná region, in the border territories of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. From there, it tells stories related to the environment, the overexploitation of natural resources, and the forms of resistance proposed by the affected communities.

The project aims to produce a photobook and an audiovisual work. Through these materials, the initiative seeks a sensitive approach and exploration of the Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil border region from a Socio-Environmental Rights perspective. The proposal is to engage in an exercise of memory concerning the historical and current environmental issues of this Alto Paraná region, the material transformations that have occurred in the territory, and their social consequences.

The photographs that structure the photobook were taken by Jerónimo Rivero and are accompanied by written accounts addressing various themes covered by the project (deforestation, hydroelectric dams, agribusiness, and pulp mills).

The stories told, however, revolve around the flooding and disappearance (in 1982) of the waterfalls known as “Saltos del Guairá” in Paraguay and “Sete Quedas” in Brazil, located in the heart of Alto Paraná, due to the construction of the binational Itaipú hydroelectric mega-dam. This event is known among environmentalists as the "ecocide of America" due to its significance in the environmental history of our continent. Nevertheless, this event remains largely unknown to the general population.

The project's central idea is, therefore, to recover this event and narrate it alongside other urgent socio-environmental issues of the region. The disappearance of the waterfalls is reconstructed in the photobook using archives from the now-defunct newspaper "O Estado de Paraná," all from 1982. These journalistic and advertising materials reveal the information circulating in the local media at the time, illustrating how narratives were constructed to prepare the population for the impending ecocide.

In contrast to this hegemonic historical narrative, where the construction of a hydroelectric dam justified the disappearance of a unique and invaluable natural site, this project seeks to reconstruct history through a sensitive exercise of memory. It includes the current state of the territory, the perspective of affected populations, and, especially, that of the Indigenous Peoples inhabiting this region.

Additionally, the photobook includes intervened family archive photographs of the victimized families and satellite images to illustrate the diverse consequences of human intervention in the territory.

In the audiovisual production, archival material, original recordings, and the first-person voice of the Guaraní people, who currently live near the city of Guaíra, Brazil, are used.

Project Team:

Jerónimo Rivero: Concept, General Production, and Photography
Nicolás Pousthomis: Graphic Editing
Ayelén Ruiz de Infante: Design, Layout, and Page Setup
Tony Lockett: Graphic Production
Juan Manuel Zaldua and Florencia Cárdenas: Audiovisual Production
Julián Miguel Ravera: Audiovisual Sound

Texts:

Guillermo Folguera
Paula Blois
Carla Wichmann
Iriel Surai Molina

The photobook is co-published by Sub Editora and MORPURGO ediciones.