Please continue to support Mathieu Asselin’s work, Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation. Last December we told you about Mathieu’s groundbreaking project, which seeks to tell in stunning, sometimes heart-breaking photos, something of the corrupt history of the biotech giant. Response was good, but the goal has not yet been reached. Please make a contribution here: [[[LINK]]]
Mathieu explains a little about his project:
“I am a New York-based freelance photographer. For the past three years I have been working on a photographic project –Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation, which documents more than a century of history of the Monsanto corporation. I am interested in documenting the social and ecological consequences of its relentless behavior.
“I have traveled to many sites, photographing the places and people affected by Monsanto’s inexorable race to success. Thanks to this company’s careless handling of its toxic by-products, over 50 Monsanto locations have become Superfund Sites across the United States alone, affecting hundreds of communities and their environment with health and ecological consequences. This epic run of pollution can be counted as the worst in the history of this country.
“Despite this, Monsanto has arranged not only to survive, but even to thrive, maintaining strong ties inside in the US government (especially the FDA). The corporation wages widespread campaigns of misinformation, persecuting institutions and individuals, including scientists, farmers and activists that dare to disclose these crimes. Today, Monsanto is addressing a new chapter in its history of successful failures, through the creation and commercialization of Genetically Modified Organism or GMO’s. Monsanto continues to spread new technologies and products which are ringing alarms among scientific, human rights and ecological organizations around the globe for concerns over public health, food safety and ecological sustainability.
I have come to understand increasingly that despite the importance of the subject and the many ways Monsanto’s ambitions affects us, Monsanto’s history remains largely unknown. It has never been put together in a concise and photographically -oriented book or an exhibition. Reviewing its past, this project aims to picture what Monsanto’s near future will look like.
My project is coming to a conclusion and I have to travel to two more places. The first one is Vietnam where I will photograph the consequences of the massive use of Monsanto’s Agent Orange at the Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. The second one is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on a remote island in Norway where seeds from all around the world are stored.
We at Baker Creek heartily endorse Mathieu’s project and commend it to you as worthy of your continued support.
