Focusing on water security as a critical dimension of justice and combining insights from rights-based journalism, mobility and development studies, visual politics, and the politics of listening, this project interrogates the loss and damage experienced by communities that are disrupted and displaced in the name of development.  In this context, it is important to explore ways to connect locally affected communities experiencing hydro-social injustice to global audiences and tell their stories about the real costs of social, cultural, and environmental loss experienced by marginalised people in the name of development. We contend that the erasure of experiences of hydro-social injustice has occurred through forms of representation that invisibilise these river communities and their hydro-social relations and silence the loss and suffering that ensue when such projects are realised.

People who live in areas affected by the Mapithel dam were asked to take pictures of their experiences to make a visual diary of how the dam has changed their lives. They were also asked to take audio recordings, which take the form of individual testimonies, conversations, and recordings of environmental soundscapes. This field research has led to images and sounds woven together and curated by the project team to make a photo-acoustic immersive journalism experience. By exploring participatory, practice-led research to engage with the visual and soundscapes of Mapithel, this project provides innovative, practical approaches to comprehend hydro-social politics of the global South and the connection between sound and vision, in and from place.  

This project is significant as it is the first interdisciplinary account of the struggles of dam-affected communities in Manipur, India. It provides an opportunity to explore the intersection between participatory photojournalism and visual art practice, where the audience can engage with the mediated content in an immersive setting.

This project was funded under the ARTS, EDUCATION & LAW GROUP RESEARCH GRANT scheme at Griffith University.