TIFA 2023 Editorial / Photo Essay

Smor San

  • Prize
    Bronze in Editorial/Photo Essay
  • Photographer
    Steff Gruber
  • Technical Info
    Nikon Z9 With Nikkor-z Zoom Lens 24-70mm/2.8 And Nikkor-z Zoom Lens 14-24mm/2.8
  • Photo Date
    2023

Smor San is a community that lives in a cemetery that is still visited by relatives of the deceased. The inhabitants have constructed makeshift houses on top of tombs and coffins, or inhabited vacant burial chambers. Here they eat dinner, watch TV, hang clothes to dry, care for their kids, and sleep – just centimeters away from the dead. They moved into the cemetery with around 200 graves after sand dredging had led to the collapse of their houses on the riverbank. The documentation of life in Smor San is a long-term project that began in 2019.