LA CRECIENTE
LA CRECIENTE
Native Islanders and the community of the Paraná River Delta
lived in the islands of the Paraná River Delta in Argentina during three years to photograph the community living there. Far away from the city and absolutely connected with the river, nature and the local people. Influenced by books and stories about the great Paraná River, I began to observe how the people lived and worked in a natural environment in which the preponderant element is water. Every day I crossed the huge Paraná River in a motorboat, meeting island residents here and there on wharfs or in some store or gas station. I became an islander and started to share with them the same daily life.
Some of the islanders work in the tree-felling season, they are fishermen, hunters and or farmers, but most are isolated without any kind of communication except the River. The tides control the life of the islanders: with the high tide, they can travel through the small rivers and islands to pick up the wood felled before. With the low tide, they can collect rushes at the shore. The Delta region used to be one of the major fruits-producer of Argentina, but after some big floods during the last century, most of the people have left these islands.
I have portrayed this community everyday lives by staging scenes during long time exposures in the night. Families, fishermen, sailors, loggers, and hunters are part of this portrait of the islands illuminated by the full moon. Working with a large format camera and preferring shots that include people, water, sky and vegetation, creating each photo required long exposure times that forced subjects to remain motionless for as much as ten minutes. By exploring these places through photography, want to exhibit the extraordinary visual and poetic impact of the river and the intimate relationship between the Paraná Delta´s community and its environment
