Artist Statement
During my visit to this neighboring country I knew so little about, a wise Rastafarian woman told me, “We Guyanese have water on the brain. If you live on the coast, you’ve got water on the brain.”
Being Brazilian, I became instantly fascinated about the history of Guyana. After all, we share borders and a painful background of colonization.
In this land of many waters, a country that has long suffered severe floods, a long wall was built. Made of granite and concrete by English colonizers in the 19th century, this scar on the landscape tried to stop the strength of waves, separating the ocean from the land, and consequently the people from the ocean. But there’s no stopping the power of nature.
Waves grew stronger. They would surpass the height of the wall and flood the land again. And again. Water was something to be feared.
In school, we’re taught the ocean is blue. Not here. In Guyana, the ocean is tan, café au lait. It’s muddy and not very inviting to most, but it’s part of the country and its people. How can a tiny nation on the Caribbean not have the famous clear turquoise waters?
But in a place where a large majority of the population lives along the coast, the Guyanese could barely see the sea. There’s always been that scar of concrete keeping the water out, or locking the people in.
Over the past thousand years, things have been changing slowly. A giant mudbank has been moving north across South America through the Amazon rivers to Guyana’s coast. Now the lands once lost to the ocean are reappearing. The mangroves, once removed by colonizers, are coming back strong. This new land is the foundation of an ecosystem that can store up to five times more carbon than terrestrial forests. It can also dissipate the energy of waves and prevent severe floods in coastal villages more efficiently than the old wall.
In this story of life, death, water and people, nature will always find a way to heal itself.
Bio
Maíra Erlich is a Brazilian documentary photographer with special interest in social matters, human rights, family and culture. She is a National Geographic Explorer and currently works as a freelancer collaborating with international media outlets and organisations.