Traces of the disaster in Brumadinho

photographic territorialities of remembrance

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the relationship between the notions of territory, memory and photographic image in order to reflect on mineral exploration and its impacts following the disaster of the Vale S.A. dam collapse in Brumadinho. Unrestrained mining exploitation is associated with an "environmental crisis", socially and institutionally provoked, expanding its effects beyond local control. Based on the photo essay carried out by photojournalist Juarez Rodrigues for the State of Minas, we show how the forced displacement of families after the disaster was not only physical, but also cultural, separating the affected population from their own territories of memory, daily struggle and of belonging. In this sense, remembrance is presented as a relational process that is linked to the performativity of images in order to seek not only a new contact with the past, but also the transformation of the present. We reveal how remembrance creates gaping narratives through traces that, figured in the images, redefine ways of life in the midst of disaster.