Once again. Same story. It's Albania's turn. Most likely the protagonist is the usual cement oligarchy always ready to devastate any pristine territory. That of the long Vjosa river is an environment that remained untamed and beautiful, characterized by beautiful canyons, braided river sections, islands, oxbows, and meandering stretches. An unknown wild jewel of 270 km stretching from the Greek mountains to the Adriatic sea. Here different communities practice agriculture despite many difficulties. I read in the website 'Save the Blue Heart of Europe' that in its lower part the river «opens up into a valley with extensive wetlands, providing habitats for spawning fish, migratory birds, and others. Finally, it drains into the sea just north of the Narta lagoon – one of the biggest and ecologically richest lagoons of Albanian and as such designated as Managed Nature Reserve».
Is there any escape for this region? Will the people be wiped out as has already happened in other regions of the world? A gigantic hydroelectric power station that will change the face of a watercourse. We are faced with the umpteenth dissolution of a collective identity forced to forget its roots thanks to the cannon shots of invasive and borderless capitalism that devours rivers, woods, marshes, and landscapes to fill its insatiable and voracious hunger.
Yes, it is the usual condemnation of the contemporary man who is increasingly castrated of any community bond and exiled by a diaspora without borders. Nick St. Oegger tries to return dignity to the anonymous faces of the people who made this river their habitat. He gives voice to that invisible community consciousness that will probably be covered by the mechanical noise of the bulldozers while brutalizing nature. There is nothing else to add to this story of economic disintegration, of social cannibalism. The stateless concrete monster will absorb the river's water and neutralize its life. Or will we see a historical u-turn? A victory against the power of technology that does not act through violence but nevertheless is capable of ordering, regulating and controlling individual destinies. It is a totalitarian power but decentralized, continuous but discreet, and dissociating.
The project of Nick St. Oegger is also the book 'Kuçedra: Portraits of Life on Europe’s Last Wild River'. (More info from here). Through landscapes, portraits and interior details, this book portrays the environment of the Vjosa in its natural state, as it faces the threat of being changed forever. It’s being published with support from Patagonia and its campaign, Save the Blue Heart of Europe, which seeks to end investment in destructive hydropower projects on rivers throughout the Balkans.
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
Still image of the book 'Kuçedra: Portraits of Life on Europe’s Last Wild River'
Still image of the book 'Kuçedra: Portraits of Life on Europe’s Last Wild River'
Still image of the book 'Kuçedra: Portraits of Life on Europe’s Last Wild River'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
© Nick St. Oegger from the series 'Kuçedra'
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