Skip to content

Ines Calvo

Rivers and the people on them

Long documentary projects by Ines Calvo, one river at a time.

Write to Ines See the projects

A fisherman waist deep in still water throws a round net that opens in the air, mangroves behind him — Plate 1. A cast net opening over the shallows.

How a river project runs

Slowly, and always with the same people.

A wooden hut at the end of a plank walk through dry reeds and bare trees — Plate 2. A hut at the end of a plank walk through the reeds.

Walk it
From the source to the sea, on foot and by boat.
Stay
A season with one family, one village, one landing.
Go back
Every year, to the same doors, until the story turns.
Print
Silver gelatin, by hand, in her own darkroom.

From the Mekong to the Severn

A boy holds out hay to a cow across flooded paddy, both doubled in the water — Low Season
Plate 3. The Mekong among the islands, in the dry months.

A wide river curving through flat fields, seen from a plane — Where the Po Ends
Plate 4. The last miles of the Po, from the air.

Floating vegetable beds and a moored canoe seen from above, a gardener bent over one bed — The Floating Fields
Plate 5. Rafts farmed through the monsoon in the Ganges delta.

A small sailing boat sitting on the mud of a tidal creek at low water — Mud and Tide
Plate 6. The Severn’s creeks, dry twice a day.

A narrow wooden boat heaped with nets, reflected in still dark water — Behind the Dam
Plate 7. Fishermen on a reservoir in the Western Ghats.

The river’s last mile, at evening

A small rowing boat resting on still delta water under a wide evening sky, hills beyond — Plate 8. A boat at rest in the Acheloos delta.

What she takes on

Assignments: Stories on rivers, deltas and the coast, for editors.
Books and shows: A finished project, edited with a publisher or a gallery.
Prints: Any plate on this page, printed by hand on fibre paper.

Write to Ines

Say which river, or which plate.

Email: Address to come
Based in: City to come