Search

This visualization shows an apparently normal landscape with two children walking in a rural community in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest., One of them carries a plastic bag, a close up of its contents at the bottom right corner shows respiratory equipment and medicines directly. It shows how daily life of this indigenous community is toxified, even though we are geographically located at what is often thought of as a pristine biodiverse location or one of the world’s most important oxygen-producing sites. 

The caption points to this contradiction between “toxic/non-toxic” frontiers. It would be helpful to know more about the origin of these respiratory diseases, how frequent they are in the community, and how people make sense of the ambiguous (and unsettling) way of life at the “border” between the deeper/cleaner forest and growing accustomed to external resources/schools/hospitals that were also part of the government’s “development” plan.

This is an original photographic composition created by the author, which contains two photographs. The first allows us to observe a landscape in transformation contrasted by two children at the center of what is described as an oil-road with a plastic bag, which is shown on the second image. This second, smaller size image, shows the contents of the bag through a zoom of the devices and medicines that were carried by the children. This together with the ethnographic message reveals that this the toxic result of a resistance to the toxicity itself. 

Although at first sight, the image shows the direct link among children, devices and medicines, it might be helpful to put one or two more, smaller size pictures, showing the devices in use. 

The visualization talks about toxicity’s side effects. One of the most poignant aspects is the direct relationship the caption points to between toxic roads, resistance to that very toxicity, and its health side effects in children's lives in what is supposed to be one of the world’s most “clean air” locations.

It shows the tensions in toxic places - children are not even safe from air pollution when in the Amazon - what some people might consider to be the lungs of the world!

• What does the respiratory mask do?  What kinds of breathing problems are they solving?  When do they wear them?  Why was the child carrying the device rather than wearing them?  I want to know why the girl is carrying it in a plastic bag - they look like they are on their way somewhere - is their destination important to the issue?
• If the device is connected to a machine - is the machine monitoring their breathing?  I wonder if there is a bit more of the medical detail in here which would help it make more sense.

This is a composition of two images taken by the ethnographer.  The composition leads me to want to know where the two girls are walking to.

That they are hidden in places others might consider ‘safe’: i.e. the bodies of children or in rainforests.