Front Cover

Publisher Note

An Acid River Runs Through It documents how acid mine drainage (AMD) affects water sources and communities in South Africa. Large volumes of acidic water carrying toxic sulphates and metals such as lead, zinc, copper and radioactive uranium are released into the environment by current and past mining activities. The poisonous water flows from gold and coal mining, largely untreated, into the groundwater, and into streams and rivers. These pollutants affect water resources already under strain from water shortages due to global warming and pollution by untreated sewage and other waste water. Acid mine water pollution often most directly impacts already disadvantaged people in our society, but ultimately threatens everyone's water resources and well-being. The way I see it, it's an environmental disaster and a violation of human rights. It needs all of our attention.Although toxic, the colorful pollution sometimes creates landscapes that are eerily beautiful, including veld looking like it’s covered in snow; and, a deep-yellow lakebed filled with uranium dust. The book focuses on landscapes like these on the ground and from the air. In intimate portraits, the reader also gets to meet people who come in direct contact with the pollution, like the children playing in a pool of rusty-colored acid mine drainage flowing outside their school gates.

Artist Monograph

Eva-Lotta Jansson

An Acid River Runs Through It

Publisher self-published
Release Date 2015
Credits
Identifiers
ISBN-13: 9781320443364
Work  
Topics Ambience, Mines, Mining
Methods Photography
Language English
Format Hardcover
Dimensions 51.0 × 21.3 × 1.4 cm
Pages 82
Technique Offset