PHOTOGRAPHY CÉCILE S. BAUDIE. Retrieved from i-d.vice.com
Excerpt from i-d.vice.com
Originally named Karukera — or “the island of beautiful waters”— by the native Arawaks, the land now known as Guadeloupe was colonised in 1493 by Christopher Columbus before being claimed by the French two centuries later. Since then, the French government has failed to intervene in an island-wide health crisis caused by a pesticide used from the early 70s to the early 90s on banana crops. Now with one of the highest incidences of prostate cancer in the world, and with 90 percent of its adult population showing traces of the pesticide in their blood, Guadeloupe is home to a non-biodegradable poison that will continue growing in its soil for lifetimes.
While celebrating its majestic mountainscapes, bountiful fruit trees and magical nights teeming with the sounds of frogs, crickets and what many believed to be mystical creature, Anaïs’s essay is also a condemnation of the French government and a powerful call to action. Accompanied by photographs taken by Cécile S. Baudier, “Karukera” serves to shine a light on this violent injustice.
