Forest fires are an annual drama that affects everyone in Portugal, directly or not. The photographic book Black Forest invites all to act.
With Black Forest, the aim is not only to pay a tribute to everyone fighting forest fires, specially fire fighters, but also to focus public attention on this catastrophe.
Black Forest was produced during the Portuguese fire season – according to the European Commission, half of the forest fires that happen within all the 28 EU member states occur in Portugal (2013 data), the smallest Mediterranean country in Europe. It is a tragedy of epic proportions on a steep rise since 2004.
This is a conceptual exercise, far from the news coverage style of photography, far from the burning flames show. In a way, the final result is an hymn to nature – it is a conceptual piece of work where carbonized plants and trees share their agonizing death with us; a silent, long and painful post-mortem requiem that can only be sung by nature, rarely understood by humans.
In these photographs there is no scale, but the scale of Nature, the scale of extinction.
The Book
Size: 21cmx21cm
Pages: 140
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Floresta-Negra-204398403324599
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projetoflorestanegra/
The Author
John Gallo is a social documentary photographer, writer and essayist.
He truly believes we need to focus on people, on human beings; that we need to humanize the planet, to change our relationship with Nature and assure next generations a much brighter future.
John was the winner of the 2015 The Guardian/Royal Photographic Society’s Joan Wakelin Award.
The Promotor
Chappa is an agency dedicated to image, focused on the creation, development and production of artistic projects.
The funds raised will be allocated exclusively to the production and printing costs of the book and also to the production and distribution of the rewards. The remaining funds raised through this campaign will be allocated to Liga dos Bombeiros Portugueses (Portuguese Firefighters League ).
November: Book editing and printing.
December: Production of the rewards and book and rewards distribution.