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‘Open Fire’ exhibition in UK

Brazilian photographer Marilene Ribeiro's exhibition

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In September 2022, LAB described a new photo exhibition, created by the Brazilian photographer and film-maker Marilene Cardoso Ribeiro.

Now that exhibition has come to the UK and is on display until 16 November at the West Downs Gallery, on the campus of the University of Winchester.

Marilene Ribeiro (3rd from right) at the launch of Open Fire in Winchester.

At the opening in Winchester on 2 October, Marilene spoke about the scale of fires now breaking out across both the Amazon and the Pantanal in Brazil. One graphic she displayed showed the same areas outlined on a map of the UK, demonstrating that the area of Braziliean savannah on fire this year would correspond to almost the whole of England and Wales.

Open Fire and its associated multi-media presentation have garnered numerous prizes, including: the Royal Geographical Society’s Earth Photo – Photoworks 2024 award, and Brazil’s National Arts Foundation Marc Ferrez Photography Prize, among others.

Other speakers highighted the prevalence of fires in 2024 across swathes of the world, including much of Mediterranean Europe: Danny Lee, Trustee of Winchester Action on Climate Change and a Green Party Councillor; Julio Molina and Laura Hubner from the Media and Film Faculty at the University of Winchester.

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Dr Rachel Carmenta, Associate Professor of Climate Change in the Tyndall Centre, University of East Anglia,talked about Dona Xica, and her ribeirinha community, who have for generations used ‘swidden agriculture’ (slash-and-burn), deploying fire in a highly controlled and sympathetic manner which allows ecosystems to recover and flourish.

Now they find both that the impacts of climate change and this year’s unprecedented droughts have undermined the ecosystems they protected and, in a terrible irony, they and indigenous communities are often blamed for starting fires, a pretext to drive them off land where far larger and infinitely more destructive fires are set by land grabbers, cattle and soya farmers, miners and road-builders.

The speakers examined the term wild-fire and explored the difference between fire as a tool, and fire either uncontrolled or deliberately set.

Referring to the deliberate use of fire to further destructive extraction, Marilene quoted the term used by film maker Ariella Azoulay, ‘Regime-made Disaster’.

Coincidentally, this is precisely the theme of LAB’s latest book, published on 4 October, The Amazon in Times of War by Marcos Colón, and will be explored in detail at launch events in London, Cambridge, St.Andrews and Edinburgh, with the ‘official’ launch on Saturday 19 October at Candid Arts, London.

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