Since 2012, California has been suffering through a historically severe drought. For the farmers of the Central Valley, which is, as Dana Goodyear writes in The New Yorker, “the country’s fruit basket, salad bowl, and dairy case,” the future seems especially bleak. Wells have gone dry, orchards have been left to perish, and those who came to California to work the fields stand idle. Photographers Matt Black and Ed Kashi recently spent time with the farmers and shepherds of the Central Valley, documenting their ongoing struggles. Some of Black’s photographs are also featured in The New Yorker print issue.
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military sprayed some 12 million gallons of Agent Orange herbicide over Vietnam. This defoliant was used to immediately destroy crops, clear vegetation, and remove the dense forest that provided food and cover for Vietcong forces. At least 4.5 million Vietnamese, and 2.5 million American veterans, may have been exposed to the pesticide. Although the spraying ended 30 years ago, the dioxin from Agent Orange is still wreaking havoc on three generations of victims.
The Leaves Keep Falling is an intimate portrait of two Vietnamese families whose children are severely disabled due to exposure to the dioxin in Agent Orange. They are among millions of people who continue to suffer the devastating health and environmental consequences of the pesticide. The film takes place outside the city of Da Nang, a 'hotspot' where dioxin levels are more than 385 times acceptable levels. Witness the day-to-day struggles of caring for victims of a war that won't end.
A group of young Muslim women speak out about the day-to-day challenges of observing hijab in America.
"Hijabi World" is part of the digital magazine Newest Americans, a collaborative project between VII Photo Agency, Talking Eyes Media and Rutgers University—Newark.
Cimarron County, Oklahoma, was the epicenter of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Today, the farming and ranching community of 2,500 people on the tip of the Oklahoma panhandle has become the epicenter of another drought, this one regarded as the most severe in fifty years, and one that has affected 80 percent of agricultural lands in the U.S. us photographs made for the Farm Security Administration during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Together, VII's Ed Kashi and Ashley Gilbertson travelled to Cimarron Country in late July and early August 2013, and used audio interviews, video and still images to capture the spirit and identity of this community—sharing the perspectives of people involved in ranching and farming for generations in the area.
