{"id":18613,"date":"2015-04-29T09:22:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T13:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18613"},"modified":"2015-04-29T09:22:16","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T13:22:16","slug":"the-waste-pickers-of-agbogbloshie-kevin-mcelvaneys-intimate-photographs-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-waste-pickers-of-agbogbloshie-kevin-mcelvaneys-intimate-photographs-video\/","title":{"rendered":"The Waste Pickers Of Agbogbloshie: Kevin McElvaney&#8217;s Intimate Photographs [Video]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The residents of Agbogbloshie, <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2014\/09\/really-happens-old-computer-youve-recycled\/\">the hellish\u00a0area outside of\u00a0Accra, Ghana<\/a>, where millions of pounds of <a href=\"http:\/\/ecopreneurist.com\/2015\/01\/16\/tackling-the-global-e-waste-problem-infographic\/\">electronic waste<\/a> gets dumped, call their home and workplace\u00a0&#8220;Sodom and Gomorrah.&#8221; For activist artists around the world, the waste dump and its residents have become symbols of\u00a0the costs created by developed world excess. German photographer\u00a0Kevin McElvaney&#8217;s new collection of photos of those waste pickers, titled\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.derkevin.com\/Agbogbloshie.html\"><em>Agbogbloshie<\/em><\/a>, puts a very human face on an issue that we often portray.<\/p>\n<p>McElvaney describes the area as &#8220;a social-economic and environmental disaster,&#8221; and takes note of the many health impacts created by unprotected gathering of valuable metals from discarded appliances and electronics. And, yet, he notes that &#8220;it feels wrong to walk around there with a sad face,&#8221; as so many of the boys who work among the waste act like normal children: laughing, dancing, playing and working together, and talking about their plans for the future.<\/p>\n<p>Most don&#8217;t have much of a future, unfortunately: cancer takes many of them in their twenties. McElvaney&#8217;s photos embody both the joy and sadness, the pluck and vulnerability of these young people left with very few options other than digging through dangerous waste.<\/p>\n<p>Take some time to read McElvaney&#8217;s full artist statement, as well as spend some time with the photographs available online (and, of course, the video above, which he also created). The photographer has put together a traveling exhibit, and is trying to find US locations for it; hopefully, we&#8217;ll get an opportunity to take an even closer look at this important work.<\/p>\n<p>These moving photos will no doubt evoke all kinds of thoughts &#8211; if you feel like sharing any of them, head to the comments below.<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/2015\/04\/kevin-mcelvaney-agbogbloshie\"><em>Wired<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/boingboing.net\/2015\/04\/27\/portraits-of-e-waste-pickers-i.html\"><em>BoingBoing<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Featured photo credit: Screen capture from &#8220;AGBOGBLOSHIE \/\/ STILL NOT SPONSORED&#8221; video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kevin McElvaney&#8217;s photography collection Agbogbloshie puts a very human face on the dumping of electronic waste in the developing world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":18614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7271,7270,1145,1146,7269,8105,3406],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Electronic Waste Pickers In Agbogbloshie: Photographs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kevin McElvaney&#039;s photography collection Agbogbloshie puts a very human face on the dumping of electronic waste in the developing world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-waste-pickers-of-agbogbloshie-kevin-mcelvaneys-intimate-photographs-video\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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