April 16, 2010 11:44 pm

Slideshow: Ed Kashi in Madagascar

American photographer’s portfolio for the Prix Pictet commission shows the compromised beauty of the threatened island

More

Interactive Graphics

The American photographer’s portfolio of images for the second Prix Pictet commission shows the compromised beauty of the threatened island, described as one of the greatest present-day disasters yet recorded.

  • Workers saw giant logs, bringing them down to size before burning them in earthen mounds -- creating charcoal. Coal is an important source of income for the Malagasy population, but charcoal production also contributes significantly to Madagascar's deforestation.
  • These mud-soaked cattle-herders have taken part in a ritual called the Mangosy -- a dance incorporating the animals. Cattle are used in the rice fields to churn the mud, ensuring water saturation that enables the rice to germinate properly.
  • On the morning Kashi photographed the cattle herders, he'd heard happy news, via text message, from New York: he was a new god-father. 'I felt like I was levitating [while shooting],' he recalls. 'I love the way you can bridge these worlds now.'
  • When the land fails to provide, the Malagasy turn to the ocean. Some people fish with mosquito nets meant for malaria prevention. Because of their tight weave, little gets through, and fish stocks close to land are falling rapidly.
  • Madagascar suffers from systemic lack of access to fresh, safe water. Collection points have become vital for poor Malagasy communities.
  • A boy crosses the Mandrare Bridge. The waters of the Mandrare, the principal river in southern Madagascar, have diminished in some places to a trickle.
  • In a ritual literally translated as 'I don't want to show you', young girls cover their faces with the yellow paste of the tsiambara root. Played out over several days, this practice forms part of an elaborate courtship ritual.
  • Giant brick kilns, fuelled by firewood, are a common sight -- and another cause of the rapid deforestation in the area. Workers bake clay into bricks, their faces obscured by smoke.
  • This woman's hands are covered in the clay that dries and hardens reeds used for weaving fencing, baskets and mats.
  • Women gather the mahampy swamp reeds that are a vital component of village industry.
  • Rituals surrounding death remain an important part of the culture in south-east Madagascar. These burial grounds were once private places hidden by forest; they are now exposed.
  • The practice of 'tavy', or slash-and-burn agriculture, is one of the most pressing problems facing Madagascar's people and forests. As farmers search for fertile land, the forest is destroyed -- and with it a resource for Madagascar's rural poor.
  • Women from drought-hit villages scoop up small cups of silt resting in dried pools of mud -- their drinking water for the day.
  • Kashi, who has worked in the Niger Delta, Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict zones, says Madagascar 'was such a contrast to Nigeria and these other places. Virtually everyone agreed to be photographed. It was quite a joy.'
  • Women often walk several hours a day to reach health centres, where they can get certain foods unavailable elsewhere, as well as growth monitoring for their children. It was these centres that first detected the warning signs of a food insecurity crisis in May 2009.
  • A woman in a rice field. Madagascar, said Kashi, 'is so beautiful, so pleasant -- so how do you show the tension and drama without overplaying your hand?' It was a visual challenge he embraced -- and met.
Previous image
Next image

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.