The Ottawa Treaty for the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines was signed in 1997. Coinciding with that historic event, it was presented in November 1997 at el Círculo de Bellas Artes the project Lives Mined, taken by photographer Gervasio Sánchez.

The tragedy of landmines remains a reality in dozens of countries, which is why it returns today with " Mined Lives, 25 Years ," an exhibition that, through nearly one hundred photographs, recounts the stories of the protagonists of the project he began in 1995. The photographer aims to show the evolution of those affected and the challenges they have had to overcome. The subjects come from nine countries around the world, including some of the most heavily mined, such as Afghanistan, Angola, Iraq, and Cambodia.

Landmine Lives is an ongoing project, just as the consequences of landmines are endless. Gervasio Sánchez has been working with victims of this scourge since September 1995. In 1997, 2002, and 2007, he presented different versions of this project, which spans most of his professional life.

The devastation caused by landmines is lifelong. The victims of this project were randomly selected from African countries like Angola and Mozambique, Asian countries like Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Latin American countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Colombia, and European countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina. This time, the subjects come from nine countries around the world, including some of the most heavily mined, such as Afghanistan, Angola, Iraq, and Cambodia. The researchers encountered them in hospitals, some facing amputations or critically injured and at risk of death as children; in orthopedic centers where they were trying to walk again with prosthetic legs; in foundations where they were mistreated and abused; and in families struggling to survive.

Through new technologies, he maintains constant contact with several of them. He learns in real time about their most pressing problems, rejoices in their small victories, and grieves over their bad news. Several of these victims are part of his extended family; he knows more about them than about many of his closest relatives, perhaps because the pain they have suffered transcends time and morally compels him to be more attentive.

Gervasio Sánchez (Córdoba, 1959) is a journalist. His work is regularly published in the Heraldo de Aragón newspaper, he collaborates with Cadena SER radio and the BBC, and since 2001 he has directed the Photography and Journalism Seminar at the Santa María de Albarracín Foundation.

He is the author of more than a dozen photography books: The Siege of Sarajevo (1995), Landmines (1997, 2002, and 2007), Kosovo, Chronicle of the Deportation (1999), Children of War (2000), The Caravan of Death: The Victims of Pinochet (2002), Heartbeats of Time (with sculptor and visual artist Ricardo Calero, 2004), Sierra Leone, War and Peace (2005), Sarajevo, 1992–2008 (2009), Disappeared (2011), Anthology (2012), Women of Afghanistan (with journalist Mònica Bernabé, 2014), and Life (2016). In 2001, he co-edited, with Manuel Leguineche, the book The Eyes of War , and in 2004 he published the book Saving Child Soldiers.

His work has been recognized with numerous awards, most notably the National Photography Prize in 2009. He has been a UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace since 1998. In 2004, the Government of Aragon awarded him the Medal for Professional Merit, and in 2011, the Government of Spain bestowed upon him the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Social Solidarity. He is an adopted son of Zaragoza and an honorary member of the Association of Photographers of Córdoba (AFOCO).

Image credits: ©Gervasio Sánchez, VEGAP, 2024