This post is also available in: French

Last summer’s images of the Amazon ravaged by huge fires made headlines around the world and moved us all for many weeks. It was impossible for photojournalist Carolina Arantes, who was born in Brazil but resides in France, to remain indifferent to the drama that was unfolding in her home country. She thus chose to spend several weeks in Altamira in the state of Parà, where the fires blazed the longest and where the Amazon rainforest is suffering for its much-coveted riches. In recent years, large corporations and powerful farmers have been monopolising these resources with no regard for the environment or indigenous communities. Bolsonaro’s election as president has only worsened the situation: in Brazil; deforestation has doubled in a single year, devastating 10,000 km² of land. Altamira is a city of unbridled excess, a kind of modern-day Wild West that has been attracting explorers since the huge Belo Monte dam was built, ravaging 50,000 hectares of primary forest in its wake. Carolina Arantes depicts the sombre spectacle of a sacrificed paradise. Her candid images give us a close-up view of the trees damaged by flames, the gold panners, the farmers desperate for new pastures for their ever-increasing herds of cattle, and of the indigenous Amazon populations robbed of their land.