Camino for the Amazon
For this project I walked the Camino del Norte, an 850km pilgrimage across the Northern Coast of Spain, raising money to support indigenous communities in the Amazon Rainforest that suffered horrifically as a result of the 2019 fires. Photographically the project explores the lifestyle that is being a pilgrim, and the connectedness that a nomadic way of life can bestow upon us. Contrasting the devastation of the fires and their path of destruction and greed with the sustainability of the Camino and its promotion of simplicity and contentment, these photos evoke the connection made from living intentionally day to day, away from demanding capitalistic concerns.
Project Statement
When the news of the fires sweeping across the Amazon rainforest in September 2019 reached my news feed, something triggered in me. I have no connection to South America, nor have I ever been there, but the audacity of these fires and their ferocity deeply disturbed me. They were no accident. Pro-business policies and weakened environmental protection schemes encouraged deforestation of the Amazon, so the Amazon burned.
I felt compelled to do something that stood in direct contrast to what these fires represented – a new age of environmental destruction fuelled by a selfish desire for more with little regard to resulting suffering.
Pilgrims represent humility and sacredness. They have walked across the land since the earliest centuries to give thanks, to connect, to bless and be blessed and to walk in the footsteps of those before them. Taking less than they need and giving more than they have, the values of a pilgrim are refined to that of necessity and essential rather than excess and greed, leaving only footsteps in their trace and taking only as much as they can carry.
This project is a documentary fundraiser campaign which raised over £2000 for Amazon Watch.
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