Oil was first discovered in the Niger Delta in the 1950s, soon after
a powerful international oil industry developed. Nigeria today is the
world?s 5th largest exporter of oil to the US.
? However the people are poor that live in this oil-rich land, and
the environment that surrounds them is deadly - oil leaks and
explosions abound, whilst the water supply is heavily contaminated.
? In recent years, local guerillas in balaclavas and speed boats,
armed with enormous rounds of ammunition, have taken on the oil
companies. They demand the right to live in their own clean and
unpolluted land, and that the delta is restored.
? These dramatic images document for the first time the extent
of the enviromental damage and the daily conditions people there
are forced to live under, revealing not only to the world, but also
to Nigeria itself, what exactly is happening to their country, where
everything is being taken from this land - and nothing is being
given back to the people.
George Osodi is a Nigerian photographer from Lagos. His
photographs range between photojournalism and artistic
documentary, closely observing social, economic and ecological
processes of exploitation. George Osodi was chosen to be part of
the prestigious Documenta art fair in 2007.