On April 25th, 2015 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal, leaving almost 9,000 people dead, 22,000 injured and more than one million people homeless
I was living in Nepal when the earthquake struck. I was on the streets of Kathmandu minutes after the first tremor. Since that moment my only goal was to tell the story of those who fought and who are still fighting to rebuild Nepal and their lives, a goal for which I have travelled extensively in Nepal documenting both the destruction and the recovery.
Endurance focuses on the remarkable spirit with which the Nepali people responded to this devastating natural disaster; it aims to be a legacy of the fight of the people of Nepal working to see the country rising again.
Only weeks after the earthquake the attention of the world on Nepal had vanished. The Nepali people were giving a lesson in life, but the world did not care anymore; football matches and famous people were occupying more space in media than the fight of a country against the devastation of Mother Earth.
I consider Nepal as my home, a country that I love, a country that I recommend to everyone to visit, not only to see the Himalayas but to sit on a patio with a group of elderly women and share a chai with them, smile, feel, look into their eyes. That is the splendour of Nepal. I cannot allow that the fight of the people of Nepal will be forgotten; their voices deserve to be heard; their fight deserves to be told and for that reason, I continue to push to tell their stories and to keep attention on their fight and their country in a moment when many organizations are pulling out of Nepal and the Government still has not released the funds donated by the international community in July 2015
For that reason, this project has become now a book. Together with FotoEvidence, we published “Endurance” in July 2016. The book includes a foreword by film director Bernardo Bertolucci.
For more information about the project, exhibitions, launchings or to purchase a copy of the book please visit the Endurance website.
Photography © Omar Havana / Getty Images. All Rights are Reserved
Awards:
2016 – Honorable Mention. Books Category. Tokyo International Foto Awards 2015 TIFA
2016 - Finalist. Siena International Photo Awards 2016. Italy
2016 - Honorable Mention. General News Category. International Photography Awards IPA
2016 - Honorable Mention. General News Category Moscow International Foto Awards MIFA
2016 - Honorable Mention. Documentary Category. International Photographer of the Year Award IPOTY
2016 - Honorable Mention Contemporary Issues Story. National Press Photographers Association NPPA
