1st place
gold star award
pierpaolo mittica
italy 
title
Living Toxic: Karabash
Immense sulfur dioxide emissions, fall-out of metal-rich particulates and mounds of black slag are thought to be responsible for higher incidences of birth defects, skin diseases, cancer, strokes and congenital malformations. The life expectancy is 50 years on average. During many years, the exploitation of old technologies for treatment of raw materials, produced about 30 million tons of waste that have been dumped in the city. The dumps contain considerable amounts of valuable substances, including copper, zinc, gold, silver, platinoids, rare-earth elements and a trace of rare metals.
The city of Karabash is literally surrounded by black hills of industrial waste called slags mountains. The Karabash Copper Smelting Works was closed in 1990 when Soviet officials called it an “environmental disaster zone.” The loss of jobs caused the town to fall into poverty, so the century-old plant was reopened in 1998 without a safety or environmental assessment.
Moreover the lack of information about the damage of the environment and the complete lack of freedom of expression prevents the various ecological NGO to fight to protect the environment. The landscape is completely burned by dioxide, and the copper factories keep transforming the area into a living hell.
He studied with Charles – Henri Favrod, Naomi Rosenblum and Walter Rosenblum, who is his spiritual father in photography. His photographs were exhibited in all Europe and United States and published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines among them: l'Espresso, Alias del Manifesto, Vogue Italia, Repubblica, Panorama, Il Sole 24 ore, Photomagazine, Daylight Magazine, Japan Days International, Asahi Shinbum, The Telegraph, The Guardian.
In 2006 the work “Chernobyl the hidden legacy” was selected by the Chernobyl National Museum of Kiev (Ukraine) for the official exhibition for the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.
He is specialized in ecological issues, he documented the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl, Fukushima and Mayak.
Permanent collections
Fratelli Alinari Museum, Florence (Italy)
Chernobyl National Museum, Kiev (The Ukraine)
Fotografiska Museum, Stockholm (Sweden)
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (USA)
Books
“The Balkans, from Bosnia to Kosovo”, Interattiva, Italy 2000
“Chernobyl la herencia oculta”, Ellago ediciones, Spain 2006
“Chernobyl the hidden legacy”, Trolley LTD, Great Britain 2007
"Cip is not Afraid", CRO - CRAF, Italy 2010
"Chernobyl 20 years after", Kashiwa Shobo, Japan 2011
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entry description
The town of Karabash, from the Russian province of Chelyabinsk, is one of the most polluted places on Earth. A copper smelting plant, built more than 100 years ago, is situated in the town, and its toxic waste has created extremely large amounts of pollution and serious health problems for the inhabitants. The looming smokestack of Karabash’s blister-copper smelter has been venting as much as 180 tons of sulfur dioxide and metal particulates into the air every year since 1910.Immense sulfur dioxide emissions, fall-out of metal-rich particulates and mounds of black slag are thought to be responsible for higher incidences of birth defects, skin diseases, cancer, strokes and congenital malformations. The life expectancy is 50 years on average. During many years, the exploitation of old technologies for treatment of raw materials, produced about 30 million tons of waste that have been dumped in the city. The dumps contain considerable amounts of valuable substances, including copper, zinc, gold, silver, platinoids, rare-earth elements and a trace of rare metals.
The city of Karabash is literally surrounded by black hills of industrial waste called slags mountains. The Karabash Copper Smelting Works was closed in 1990 when Soviet officials called it an “environmental disaster zone.” The loss of jobs caused the town to fall into poverty, so the century-old plant was reopened in 1998 without a safety or environmental assessment.
Moreover the lack of information about the damage of the environment and the complete lack of freedom of expression prevents the various ecological NGO to fight to protect the environment. The landscape is completely burned by dioxide, and the copper factories keep transforming the area into a living hell.
about the photographer
Italian humanist photographer, is recipient of more than 40 awards and in 2013 was finalist at Eugene Smith Grant.He studied with Charles – Henri Favrod, Naomi Rosenblum and Walter Rosenblum, who is his spiritual father in photography. His photographs were exhibited in all Europe and United States and published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines among them: l'Espresso, Alias del Manifesto, Vogue Italia, Repubblica, Panorama, Il Sole 24 ore, Photomagazine, Daylight Magazine, Japan Days International, Asahi Shinbum, The Telegraph, The Guardian.
In 2006 the work “Chernobyl the hidden legacy” was selected by the Chernobyl National Museum of Kiev (Ukraine) for the official exhibition for the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.
He is specialized in ecological issues, he documented the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl, Fukushima and Mayak.
Permanent collections
Fratelli Alinari Museum, Florence (Italy)
Chernobyl National Museum, Kiev (The Ukraine)
Fotografiska Museum, Stockholm (Sweden)
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (USA)
Books
“The Balkans, from Bosnia to Kosovo”, Interattiva, Italy 2000
“Chernobyl la herencia oculta”, Ellago ediciones, Spain 2006
“Chernobyl the hidden legacy”, Trolley LTD, Great Britain 2007
"Cip is not Afraid", CRO - CRAF, Italy 2010
"Chernobyl 20 years after", Kashiwa Shobo, Japan 2011
back to gallery
