Tom Hegen Instagram – Rainforests and rivers of Borneo are turning into devastated landscapes by illegal gold mining. As cultivating their fields became unprofitable in the last few years, farmers turned their businesses into small-scale mining in search of gold. Men, women and children work in the mines, trying to make a living. Their methods are low-tech, and working in the mines is hard and dangerous.
They use basic floating platforms and follow rivers deep into the forest, searching for gold on the river banks. These rafts serve as a mobile basis from which sediments on the riverbed are filtered by the same method of using sluices, carpets and gravity. The waste material, known as tailings, is disposed of back into the river.
The color infrared photography captures an extended range of wavelengths and separates vegetation from other elements. In that way, the series reveals altered landscapes in contrast to natural elements. | Posted on 31/Jan/2024 14:36:58
