Global Long Term Project Award
Lalo de Almeida is the winner of the global prize for the World Press Photo Long-Term Project in the 2022 edition, the most prestigious photography contest in the world, in the 2022 edition of the most prestigious photography contest in the world. His project called “Amazon Dystopia” documents the process of destruction of this vital point for the planet, coinciding with the regressive environmental policy of the Jair Bolsonaro government in Brazil. On November 4, he presented his project at Casa SEAT, as part of the exhibition activities in Barcelona.
You say that you didn’t know the Amazon before this project. When did you become interested in this topic?
The Amazon for me, as for most Brazilians, was a place far from my reality. I worked for the Folha de São Paulo newspaper and I began to do some reports in the region, but they were sporadic trips. In 2012, the newspaper sent me to do a report on the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, in the middle of the Amazon. When I arrived they were at the beginning of the process and I followed this transformation of the region. That was my first step to understand what this model of predatory occupation of the Amazon means, a model designed from the outside in, without involving the local populations, without thinking about the preservation of the forest and the well-being of the populations who were in the region.
How do you approach the communities that live in the Amazon?
When I decided to continue with this project to deepen it, I returned several times to the region and I created links with the people. Unlike the most immediate journalism, which often only allows you to go to the place once and you never see the people again, for this project the idea was to establish relationships with the people who I was going to photograph. So I have been going several times to the same places and the neighbors have opened their doors to me, creating another type of relationship and managing to deepen the stories they had to tell.
What role should photojournalism play?
The journalist’s job is to tell the story in the best way possible and bring that reality to the public. It’s like you’re a bridge between the story and the audience, and that means conveying this information following ethical principles.
Now, the impact that this work has on people is very relative. The truth is that I am a bit pessimistic about the impact that photojournalism has on people. I think it’s an ant job, like a drop that you’re putting in the minds of the people you show it to. But it’s not something that immediately hits: “ah, I took these photos, so tomorrow the government is going to change the Amazon conservation policy,” instead of this it’s very limited in scope.
Today, social networks build completely different narratives, so the work of the photojournalist is very important because they have a commitment to the standard of journalism, which follows certain characteristics of seeking the truth, reality… And which serves as a counterpoint to this world of fake news increasingly frequent nowadays.
What does it mean to you to win a World Press Photo?
Winning this award, with this work, means a lot to me. Because it’s a long-term project, rather than awarding a series of photographs, for me it has been as if they had awarded a career. It is a job that I have been doing for the last 10 or 12 years with immense dedication, so my happiness has also been immense. Also, it means taking this work to a global audience, because during these years I have published these stories in a Brazilian newspaper, but Word Press Photo is helping to bring this material to an audience outside of Brazil, who are even more interested in the Amazon and on environmental problems. It is an opportunity to put the problem with the Amazon, with all its complexity, available to a wider audience.
How was your experience at the exhibition in Barcelona?
It has been a privilege for me to be invited to participate in the opening of the World Press Photo exhibition in Barcelona, to be able to show my work, talk to many people and tell this story or, at least, my point of view on what is happening. It is an important moment for Brazil, which is in a government transition, and it is very important to talk about the Amazon now. After these last 4 disastrous years, I am living my experience here with some optimism, it is a very interesting time to discuss this issue.
This interview was conducted by Isabel Cruz, from the Photographic Foundation, in November 2022 at the World Press Photo exhibition in Barcelona
