19th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
closer to the sky 11

Irregular trash dumps are a major problem in Brazil is estimated that over 46 million people live in places with no proper garbage management, and over five hundred thousand of them depend exclusively from reselling recyclable trash to the industry. therefore living with less than a dollar per day. Since before the pandemic started Brazil had experiencing an economic crisis that is driving people below the poverty line. and it got even worse after Covid 19 . the "closer to the sky" series born when i joined the efforts of a local community center on providing food security and basic services for over 60 families that live and work on our local garbage dump. for the last year and half i have been trying to portrait their reality and experiences. on june 2021 we had the debut of the series in an exhibition for they to be able to see themselves before anyone else.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 11.2020
Date Uploaded: 08.2021
Photo Location: Pacajus, Brazil
Camera: NIKON D800
Copyright: © Felipe de sousa