Crude Reflections/Cruda Realidad

Crude Reflections/Cruda Realidad chronicles the human and environmental impact of Texaco (now Chevron) oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where the pollution is so extensive that medical experts currently predict it will lead to thousands of deaths from cancer and contribute to the disappearance of five indigenous rainforest communities if not cleaned up.

Photographers Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak have documented the physical and emotional reality of those affected by this toxic contamination, roughly 30 times greater than the more widely reported Exxon Valdez spill. Their powerful images are accompanied by moving first-person testimonies from the victims, and the uplifting story of efforts by local communities to seek justice and to prevent further drilling.

In 2007, Dematteis and Szymczak were awarded an OSI Documentary Photography Distribution Grant to bring their photographs back to the people of the contaminated region. The book includes a foreword by Trudie Styler and Sting, co-founders of the Rainforest Foundation.

For more information and to order copies of the book, please visit www.citylights.com.

Book Signings

• Thursday, November 13, 7:00 pm
  Melville House
  145 Plymouth Street
  Brooklyn, NY 11201
  
  Slide presentation, talk, and book signing with Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak, with remarks by a representative of Amazon Watch and attorney Steven Donziger, advisor in the case against Chevron.  Please call 718-722-9204 for more information.

• Friday, November 14, 6:00 pm
  International Center of Photography
  1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street
  New York, NY 10036
  
  Book signing with Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak.  All ICP book signing receptions take place at the ICP Museum Store and feature a DJ and complimentary wine. Please call 212-857-0000 for more information.