Rare images inside the island’s no-go zone reveal volcanic ash and lava consuming swaths of land, homes and everyday possessions.
With a mission to first and foremost inform and educate, it can be difficult for a journalist to produce a body of work that comfortably crosses over into the art world. Madrid-based chief photographer Emilio Morenatti did just that in his recent coverage of the volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, with massive journalistic impact.
The volcano on La Palma has been active for months — and so have any number of news agencies, documenting with day-to-day images, most often from a distance after authorities declared more than 20,000 acres (8,200 hectares) of the island off-limits. Only police, soldiers and scientists are allowed to move freely in the exclusion zone, which cuts La Palma’s western shore in two.
Lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano advances toward a house on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 31, 2021. A few hours after this photo was taken, the house was engulfed by lava.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
A small shrub emerges from ash spewed from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma, Spain, Nov. 1, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
On Oct. 29, 2021, ash from the Cumbre Vieja volcano covers glassware and crockery left behind by residents who were evacuated from La Bombilla village on the island of La Palma. All will disappear as a blizzard of dark volcanic ash continues to drift to the ground, inch by inch, foot by foot.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Ash from the Cumbre Vieja volcano covers the entrance of a house as the volcano continues to erupt on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 28, 2021. Scientists estimate the volcano also has ejected more than 10 billion cubic meters of ash.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
A fountain is covered with ash spewed from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma, Spain, Nov. 1, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Jesus Perez holds a broom as he cleans volcanic ash from the roof of his house on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 28, 2021. Silence would reign in the exclusion zone if it weren’t for the volcano’s constant roar which makes conversation almost impossible and nearly drowns out the barking of abandoned dogs.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Ash covers the ground near the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupting on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 29, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
A cat sits beside a boat covered with ash from the Cumbre Vieja volcano in Puerto Nau on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 28, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Volcanic ash covers a sofa in La Bombilla during the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 29, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Volcanic ash covers graves at the La Palma cemetery on the island of La Palma, Oct. 29, 2021. The quick relocation of over 7,000 people has prevented the loss of human life during the ongoing eruption. At cemeteries, though, the occupants go through a second burial by ash, a burial that will wipe away the markers that note the place where they were put to rest.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Ash covers chairs on the terrace of a house as the Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 30, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Lava advances as the Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 29, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
A swing is covered by volcanic ash on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 28, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Spires on the roof of a house are all that remain exposed above ash from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 30, 2021. Entire houses, whole forests, right up to the canopy ... the ash is erasing the distinguishing features of the landscape.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano advances, destroying homes on the island of La Palma, Spain, Nov. 1, 2021. Lava flows have destroyed more than 1,000 houses in their paths; families weep as they are accompanied by police to witness their homes succumbing to the lava.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Ash covers graves at the La Palma cemetery as the Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt on the island of La Palma, Spain, Oct. 29, 2021.
AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Making fresh images nearly two months after the eruption started required something special, so Morenatti was dispatched with the difficult goal of capturing something not previously seen. Leaning on contacts from a previous trip, he was able to get inside the exclusion zone, but that was just the beginning. While providing daily images for the AP wire, Morenatti poured his considerable creative energy into producing a series of still life photos showing that “homes and fields located below the Cumbre Vieja volcano face annihilation in slow motion.”
His images show neighborhoods, yards, houses and all the possessions therein buried in volcanic ash, plainly illustrating that some people would never return to their homes. One house he visited was engulfed in lava a few hours later. Morenatti used drone footage to complement, but not distract from, intimate images on the ground, creating work one colleague deemed “shocking and beautiful at the same time;” a package that “made you want to keep looking.”
The result is a series of images that remind the viewer that simple everyday items — a child’s swing, a table’s place setting — can make the strongest impression. The package that was well-received by clients, ranging from The Guardian in the UK, to Der Speigel and Zeit in Germany, to Vice. Morenatti also gave an extensive interview and his work was featured in a news segment on Spain’s RTVE television.
Perhaps most rewarding, in a rare case of competitive solidarity, Morenatti’s peers in the photo industry took to social media to praise his work.
For combining determination, access, timing and talent to produce remarkable images that take viewers to the heart of an unfolding catastrophe, Morenatti is this week’s Best of the Week — First Winner.
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