(Signed) Fordlândia9 by JM Ramírez-Suassi

A collection of works by Spanish photographer Juan Miguel Ramirez-Swassy.

This book focuses on the failed attempt to transplant American culture to Brazil and its aftermath, and features photographs taken in three Brazilian states between 2017 and 2019.

In the 1920s, Henry Ford, founder of the automobile company Ford Motor Company, purchased a vast amount of land from the Brazilian government in the depths of the Amazon to develop a plantation of natural rubber, the raw material for tires. The reclaimed land was named "Fordlândia" and developed into an experimental city rather than just a business site. Not only dispatched employees but also indigenous Brazilians were employed there, and Ford worked to realize a utopia based on his own American-style capitalist ideals, with an eight-hour work day, clean company housing, comprehensive welfare and education, a transportation system, and free hospitals.

However, there were also many strict rules. For example, following Ford's example as a vegetarian, residents were forced to go meat-free, were prohibited from drinking alcohol, and were required to attend poetry readings and singing meetings. Fordlandia was also called the "Island of Purity," but excessive idealism led to growing dissatisfaction among employees and riots broke out. Although these riots were later contained, rubber tree harvests continued to decline, and the arrival of synthetic rubber proved to be the deciding factor. In 1945, Ford abandoned the project and sold the land to the Brazilian government. Although the factories and facilities are already in ruins, nearly 3,000 Brazilians still live in Fordlandia today.

Limited to 350 copies. Signed and numbered by the artist.

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Title: Fordlandia9
Artist: JM Ramírez-Suassi
Self-published, 2020
Hardcover
229 x 279 mm
130 pages
Limited edition of 350 copies, signed and numbered
ISBN: 978-84-09-15829-4