2nd place
silver star award
VALERIE LEONARD
france
title
BLACK HELL
For more than 80 years, the Jharian coal mines have been alight with coal mining villages of around seven hundred thousand people settling in.
Most of the mining is done with open cast as the price to mine is relatively lower to produce profits.
Underground fires have been burning for all those years now. All efforts to put out the fires have been in vain.
Everywhere you look, there will be a coal mine.
And so villagers in Jharia go everyday to scavenge whatever coal there is in the ground to support their families after selling the coal at the black market.
People here are too poor to move from their crumbling shelters, and continue to live in the area, risking their lives.
The fire and the poisonous smoke are affecting the lives of people living in and around the town. In the affected areas, most trees have been burnt into dry stubs and there is little vegetation left.
Although the area is not fit for human habitation, many poor people who work in the coal mines live here. Here, financial worries take precedence over concerns for safety.
When she presses the shutter, she remembers the doctrine of her father: "Always tell the Truth, but in terms of Beauty".
Valerie Leonard strives for her work to embody to this search for truth and beauty of human beings, whatever their origin or wealth.
Far from seeking aesthetic or false compassion, she wants to show the dignity of these women and men, in particularly hostile environments.
Throughout her trips around the world she focused her work particularly on a theme that she named “Labours of Hercules”.
A series of photographs where she attempts to show with utmost respect and admiration the nobility and courage of those living in difficult conditions.
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entry description
Jharia in India’s eastern Jharkhand state is literally in flames. This is due to the open cast coal mining that take place in this area.For more than 80 years, the Jharian coal mines have been alight with coal mining villages of around seven hundred thousand people settling in.
Most of the mining is done with open cast as the price to mine is relatively lower to produce profits.
Underground fires have been burning for all those years now. All efforts to put out the fires have been in vain.
Everywhere you look, there will be a coal mine.
And so villagers in Jharia go everyday to scavenge whatever coal there is in the ground to support their families after selling the coal at the black market.
People here are too poor to move from their crumbling shelters, and continue to live in the area, risking their lives.
The fire and the poisonous smoke are affecting the lives of people living in and around the town. In the affected areas, most trees have been burnt into dry stubs and there is little vegetation left.
Although the area is not fit for human habitation, many poor people who work in the coal mines live here. Here, financial worries take precedence over concerns for safety.
about the photographer
Born in Paris, french-american, Valerie Leonard has always been surrounded by a world of images. Her mother was a painter, and her father, photographer, Herman Leonard.When she presses the shutter, she remembers the doctrine of her father: "Always tell the Truth, but in terms of Beauty".
Valerie Leonard strives for her work to embody to this search for truth and beauty of human beings, whatever their origin or wealth.
Far from seeking aesthetic or false compassion, she wants to show the dignity of these women and men, in particularly hostile environments.
Throughout her trips around the world she focused her work particularly on a theme that she named “Labours of Hercules”.
A series of photographs where she attempts to show with utmost respect and admiration the nobility and courage of those living in difficult conditions.
back to gallery