![]() ![]() “My mother was born in Ancón, and therefore, my childhood was spent in those seas that are now completely contaminated by oil,” said Palomino. Orilla Negra is also a film that speaks to the daily reality of the crisis by drawing attention to its adverse financial and health implications through poignant interviews with those on the frontlines of the oil spill. In a bid to confront the wide-ranging effects of the ecological disaster, Orilla Negra combines multiple media to tell a complex story: devastating wide-angle landscape shots are placed alongside intimate portraits of affected families, documented through Palomino’s characteristically raw and honest lens. “That made me very sad and angry because, once again, my country was being hit, and there were no strict measures in place to prevent it from happening again.” “It all began when I saw the news about my country and also the social media posts of different people who were reporting the oil spill, no one was doing anything about it-not even the media,” Palomino told Atmos. Their demands were clear: not only should the company clean up the oil, but it must also assume complete responsibility, rectify all the inflicted harm, and adopt stringent measures to avert future calamities.Īmong those taking action was photographer Lizeth Lozano Palomino, who started work on her long-term project, Orilla Negra, with the aim of documenting those affected by the crisis. Fishermen staged protests outside the refinery, while advocates marched down to Repsol’s headquarters. Environmental activists rallied to draw attention to the scale of the damage and the plight of those affected. It didn’t take long for news of the oil spill to spread either-followed by outrage and calls for accountability. ![]() (These payments were described as incomplete.) It also prompted Indigenous organizations to once again speak out on the state’s systemic inaction on oil spills that have affected their ancestral lands and the waterways on which they depend for decades. In turn, small-scale fishing communities lost their income, causing Repsol to provisionally pledge a monthly payment of US $750 to each affected fishermen in damages. Fish could be seen floating lifelessly in nearby waters, while birds and mammals desperately searched for refuge amidst the contamination. Within weeks, the oil had ravaged 25 beaches, and enveloped an expanse of approximately 106 square kilometers, equivalent in size to Paris. It didn’t take long for the damage to spread. But what was once one of the world’s richest marine ecosystems quickly became a sickening testament to human negligence when Repsol, a Spanish multinational oil company, inadvertently caused the worst ecological disaster in Peru’s recent history. The landscape had, until that point, been a hub for human and animal activity-local artisanal fishermen had long depended on healthy coastlines and oceans for their livelihood. On a Saturday afternoon in January of last year, over 10,000 barrels of crude oil were unleashed into the sea off the coast of Lima, Peru. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |