Pantanal II Photograph - Limited Edition of 25

All prints are made by the author and are printed on a Canon Pro 4000 printer with LUCIA PRO ink mineral pigments, on Canson Platine Fibre Rag fine art cotton paper. Pantaneiro horse flees from forest fires at full gallop fighting for his life. I started shooting this essay in 2008 and it's a lifelong project, it's kind of an autobiographical journey.  I say this because I spent my entire adult life living on farms in remote regions of Brazil.  In addition to studying Veterinary Medicine, I've ridden horses professionally part of my life, the old cowboy is me.This work is a tribute to the brave cowboys of the Pantanal of Mato Grosso in the Brazilian hinterland.  These people are a symbol of resistance against the advancing destruction of their environment and traditional way of life.  The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world and a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and a Natural Heritage Site.  It is a landscape of cerrado, forests and extensive pastures of native grasses.  Capybaras, deer, herds of horses and cattle and the entire biological chain involved in this process depend on the interaction with centuries-old traditional agriculture.  This activity and the Pantaneiros, traditional peoples of this natural sanctuary, are on the verge of extinction.  they will probably be the last representatives of a lineage of people that will no longer exist in the very near future.  Young people go to the cities, trade horses for motorcycles and go to work as cheap labor on the outskirts of cities around the Pantanal.  The cowboy is the soul of this region, his absence means an inestimable loss for humanity.  The work I develop has the mission of helping to make people aware of the need to preserve nature and the culture of traditional populations.