Throughout history, the struggle for land has defined the course of humanity.
Colonialism, power struggles, ideological and identity-based conflicts, and wars over natural resources are all chapters of the same ongoing narrative: the relentless pursuit of territorial control.

In the Amazon, these battles for land converge. Beneath and above its vast red earth lie some of the world’s greatest treasures — ancestral cultures, immense mineral wealth, over 10% of the planet’s biodiversity, and an irreplaceable role in regulating global rainfall and climate.

In the absence — and often negligence — of the State, the Amazon is still seen by land grabbers, illegal miners, loggers, drug traffickers, business interests, and corrupt politicians as a territory to be conquered, even at the cost of fire and blood.

Terra Vermelha, by Italian photojournalist Tommaso Protti, tells the story of this Amazon — where long-ignored environmental issues intersect with modern-day crises such as the advance of agribusiness and the explosive growth of urban peripheries.

A cross between documentary photography, investigative journalism, and artistic experimentation, this exhibition is the result of a decade-long journey across the nine states of Brazil’s Legal Amazon.

Along highway BR-163, which stretches from Cuiabá in Mato Grosso to Santarém in Pará, Protti captures the ruthless advance of cattle ranching, soybean plantations, and illegal mining — forces that drive Indigenous peoples from disease-ravaged communities into cities in a desperate search for food and medicine.

In Pará, the dramatic expansion of urban outskirts is visible in places like Altamira, a city transformed by the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam and, in 2017, ranked as Brazil’s homicide capital. Organized crime, which exploits the region’s rivers as drug-trafficking routes and uses illegal gold mining to launder money, is fueling a prison system on the brink of collapse — as seen in the overcrowded penitentiaries of Manaus.

In Novo Progresso, a billboard supporting former president Jair Bolsonaro — a staunch opponent of Indigenous land demarcation and a supporter of illegal miners — reveals how the war is also political. Meanwhile, in remote riverside communities of Apuí, Amazonas, the proliferation of small evangelical churches highlights how even faith becomes a battleground.

Not even the most remote areas are spared. In the Javari Valley — where British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were murdered — Protti documents how the region with the highest number of uncontacted tribes on Earth is becoming a new frontier for environmental crimes, drug trafficking, and the evangelization of traditional communities.

But there is no attack without resistance.

In Arariboia, Maranhão, Indigenous patrol groups have formed to defend their territory, where fires and illegal deforestation have already wiped out 75% of the forest cover. In Yanomami territory, Roraima, elite military units continue their efforts to expel illegal miners, even as they admit to fighting a losing battle.

Terra Vermelha is also a testament to the resilience and resistance of the Kayapó, Guajajara, Canamari, Karipuna, and Yanomami peoples — guardians of their identity, culture, and the natural resources that must be preserved, not exploited.

More than a story about nature, Terra Vermelha is a reflection on human nature — on greed and poverty, destruction and survival, exploitation and resistance. Through Protti’s lens, we come to understand that in the fight for a land that already has owners — the forest itself — we are all the ones who lose.

— Carol Pires