Crude Reflections / Cruda Realidad: Oil, Ruin and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest - Paperback

by Lou Dematteis (Author), Kayana Szymczak (Author), Sting (Foreword by)

Crude Reflections chronicles the human and environmental impact of oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where the pollution is so extensive that medical experts currently predict thousands of deaths from cancer and the disappearance of five indigenous rainforest communities.

Photographers Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak have documented the physical and emotional reality of those affected by this toxic contamination, roughly thirty times greater than the more widely reported Exxon Valdez oil spill. Their powerful images are accompanied by moving first-person testimonies from the victims, and the uplifting story of efforts by local communities to seek justice and to prevent further drilling.

Author Biography

Award-winning photographer Dematteis is a former staff photographer for Reuters. He has exhibited extensively at home and abroad, and his photos have been included in the NY Times "Pictures of the Year." His anthology of the Sandinista years, "Nicaragua: A Decade of Revolution," was published by Norton in 1991, and also published his book "A Portrait of Vietnam" in Photographer and human rights advocate, Szymczak has worked with Global Exchange, Rain Forest Action Network, the Ruckus Society and Amazon Watch. She was awarded a Titcomb Foundation award to document the impact of ChevronTexaco's oil development on people in the Ecuadorian region of the Amazon, part of a larger project called "Blook of the Earth," a multi-region photo Prior to starting his solo career, Sting was the principal composer, lead singer and bass player of the rock band The Police.With his wife Trudie Styler and Raoni Metuktire, a Kayapó Indian leader in Brazil, Sting founded the Rainforest Foundation. His support for this cause continues to this day, and includes an annual benefit held at Carnegie Hall.