Drought
and desolation in theSertão
In 2015, Brazil-based American photographer Lianne Milton inaugurated the very first edition of our Photo Award at the Visa pour l’Image – Perpignan International Photojournalism Festival, when Jacques Rocher presented her with her prize to support her work on farmers in north-eastern Brazil. In the semi-arid Sertão region, these men and women are struggling to survive amidst droughts that continue to worsen as the years pass. Armed with her trusty camera, the young woman captured the despair of these poor rural families, who are forced to slaughter their cattle and watch helplessly as the desert creeps ever further across their land.