Richard Mosse
Log Barges, Santarem, Brazil
Archival pigment print, 63 1/2 x 28 inches, Edition 4 of 5
161 x 71 cm Framed
£20,000
“Large quantities of tropical hardwood moored on the side of the Amazon River. These are very often illegally logged and then fraudulently certified before being exported and sold on international markets. This map of log barges was made not long after President Bolsonaro’s Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, resigned after federal police raided his offices in an investigation into the enabling of international exportation of protected hardwoods in the Santarem area. It cannot be verified whether this timber is related to Salles and the investigation. It is highly likely that the vast majority of these logs were culled illegally and are destined for international markets.”
Richard Mosse is an Irish photographer whose groundbreaking work combines fine art and documentary photography to explore conflict, displacement, and environmental issues in unique and visually striking ways. Known for using unconventional technology to reveal unseen aspects of his subjects, Mosse’s style challenges traditional boundaries in photojournalism. He gained global recognition for his series *Infra*, where he used infrared film to document conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, transforming the landscape into surreal hues of pink and purple, lending a visceral beauty to tragic scenes of war. Mosse’s approach is deeply layered, as he often uses color and form to evoke both beauty and despair, creating an emotional complexity that invites viewers to grapple with his subjects on multiple levels.
One of Mosse’s most recent projects focuses on the Amazon Rainforest, where he documents the urgent environmental crises facing this fragile ecosystem. In his *Tristes Tropiques* series, named after the travel memoir by anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, Mosse captures the ecological devastation brought on by deforestation, mining, and industrial encroachment. For this project, he used a multispectral camera, typically deployed for scientific and military purposes, which can capture wavelengths beyond human vision. This choice allowed Mosse to visualize environmental destruction in a vivid, haunting manner, layering the images with colors invisible to the naked eye, thereby giving an unfiltered look at the scope of ecological loss.
Mosse’s *Tristes Tropiques* is a powerful exploration of beauty and devastation. The intense, almost alien colors reveal burnt landscapes, toxic rivers, and scarred earth where lush rainforests once stood. In one particularly poignant photograph, Mosse captures a barren expanse of land with only the skeletons of trees left standing—a stark symbol of deforestation’s impact. Another image shows barges laden with timber navigating Brazil’s Santarém region, highlighting the sheer scale of resource extraction and its effect on local biodiversity. By transforming scenes of environmental devastation into vivid, almost otherworldly compositions, Mosse draws attention to the hidden crisis of the Amazon and its lasting impact on global ecology.
Mosse’s work on the Amazon challenges viewers to confront uncomfortable truths about environmental exploitation and human impact. Exhibited internationally, this series has been widely praised for its unique perspective and innovative use of technology, bringing a sense of urgency to conversations about conservation. With *Tristes Tropiques*, Mosse continues his exploration of complex global issues, using art to bridge the gap between scientific documentation and visual storytelling. His Amazon series stands as a vivid reminder of the urgent need to protect one of the planet’s most critical ecosystems.