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Reportage

Fausto Podavini

Photographer

Fausto Podavini

THE HUMAN COST OF IRON

The biggest natural disaster for the number of victims took place in the region of Minas Gerais, in Brasil, on Junuary 25th 2019. A containment dam of the multinational Brazilian company Vale, collapsed, pouring tons of water and highly contaminated mud in the valley underneath. The residue of mining run over the outskirt of
Córrego do Fejuão and Brumadinho, causing the
death of 215 people, while other 92 are still missing.
The damage has created a real social and environmental upheaval. The Ibama Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the collapse has released one million tons of water and mud, both highly toxic, due to the presence of mining residues. Actuality, there would be about 20 risk dams in the Minas Gerais region. On April 8th, the Brasilian mining company Vale signed an greement with the office of the ombudsman to facilitate a court agreement about the cost of reparations for the victims of the collapsed dam. Everything has
its price, including human life.

Fausto Podavini

Fausto Podavini was born in Rome, where he currently lives and works. He began his photographic journey first as an assistant and studio photographer, to approach gradually to photo-reportage. Podavini has also been part of MIFAV Tor Vergata University, where got to know and been in contact with many photographers. After abandoning studio photography to devote himself exclusively to reportage, he then embarked himself as a freelance, working with various non-profit organization for the realization of reports in Italy, Peru, Kenya and Ethiopia, where he currently is pursuing some personal photo projects. In 2009 he began a collaboration with the Collective WSP, joined permanently in 2010, where, in addition to work as a photographer in collective projects, he works as a professor of Photojournalism. In addition to his various reports in Africa, South America and India, Podavini has carried out important work on the Italian territory such as a report on sport for disabled, a report in a juvenile prison and a work on Alzheimer's disease, with whom he won the Daily Life section of the World Press Photo 2013.  His works have won international awards such as The World Press Photo in 2013 and 2018, Il Poy in 2016 and 2018, Sony, Yves Rocher Grant and have been published in the most important international magazines such as 6Mois, LeVie / LeMonde, GEO ES, Stern, Internzainale, Donna Moderna, National Geographic, Days Japan and has exhibited in major cities such as New York, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Rome.