Brainplug

Potosi, Bolivia Miners: 5 Centuries Deep is a photo documentary project that aims to explore the changing face of the mining community and mining industry in Potosi, Bolivia. Photographer Irina Zhorov hopes to bring more awareness to
the present situation of the miners, the surrounding towns, the country’s nationalization efforts and work with foreign companies in the context of a Colonial past. It’s a beautiful and terrifying place that has, according to lore, yielded enough silver to build a silver bridge from Bolivia to Spain. In reality, it does not fall too short of that claim – it was the biggest silver mine in the world and has been mined continuously for about 500 years. With ore deposits close to exhaustion, new foreign companies operating on site, and a president that promises not to repeat history’s mistakes in Bolivia, changes are afoot. Whether the mining industry in Potosi is changing or, perhaps, yielding its last is yet to be seen and this project aims to document it.

Please read more about it and help make it happen at Kickstarter: Potosi, Bolivia Miners: 5 Centuries Deep.

A miner in Potosi, Bolivia