Solmaz Daryani

The Eyes of Earth, my 6-year project, is chosen as the 2021 FotoEvidence W Award winner. In partnership with FotoEvidence, we will be publishing a book of this work.

The Eyes of Earth tells about the environmental disaster at Iran's lake Urmia which was once the second-largest salt lake on the planet and my family's story who grew up on the lake. 

It's both an environmental and personal story about the intimate relationship between the human community and the ecosystem they depended on.

It was my greatest hope to see the project as a book. During my years working on this story, my childhood memories growing up on the lake, and my grandmother were my inspiration source. She died from Covid-19 recently. 

I am pleased the book is dedicated to an illiterate woman who knew the importance of balance between humans and nature and managed to plant more than 800 trees during her lifetime.