BITTER LEAVES - Rocco Rorandelli

Published in September 2019
165×240 mm
144 pages
62 color images, 5 infographics
Hardback, cloth covered, tipped in image
ISBN 978-1-910401-36-1
GOST publishing

“I have witnessed how tobacco promotes the stripping of farmlands, threatens workers with dangerous chemicals, exploits child labor and undocumented workers, utilizes aggressive marketing campaigns aimed at identifying new customers (mostly underage), and conducts heavy lobbying to promote its expansion to novel markets and social strata.” Rocco Rorandelli

​In Bitter Leaves, the resulting photographs are presented alongside texts by scientist Dr Judith MacKay, collectively examining the complexity of this global industry and the influence of corporate mechanisms and power. Cigarettes are one of the most marketed consumer products in history. Their apparent simplicity and design – tobacco leaves, paper and filter – hides both the chemical toxicity of smoke, and the socio-economic and environmental negative aspects linked to their production, marketing and use. Rorandelli’s thorough investigation of the industry led him from the tobacco fields to medical centers, auction floors, factories, museums and customs facilities, to elucidate the vast web of the industry and the human and environmental burden.​