Leper Colonies


  • Photographer
    Heiner Pflug
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2010
  • Technical Info
    Nikon D3

From the 1920s onwards, Brazil started to build colonies to confine leprosy patients. The practice of compulsory isolation lasted from the early last century until the eighties. The colonies were walled and guarded around the clock. The society wanted its residents do not have contact with the outside world. – For more than 10 months I visited six colonies in my journey through the world of leprosy patients. This essay attempts to describe, photographically, the sadness and loneliness of people confined to the colonies, now open, however still ignored by the population, but also expresses the hope for a more human future

Story


From the 1920s onwards, Brazil started to build colonies to confine leprosy patients. The practice of compulsory isolation lasted from the early last century until the eighties. The colonies were walled and guarded around the clock. The society wanted its residents do not have contact with the outside world. – For more than 10 months I visited six colonies in my journey through the world of leprosy patients. This essay attempts to describe, photographically, the sadness and loneliness of people confined to the colonies, now open, however still ignored by the population, but also expresses the hope for a more human future

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