FLOOD ME, I'LL BE HERE
Andras Zoltai
Words courtesy of the author.
Flood Me, I’ll Be Here is a five-year photographic exploration of Majuli, the world’s largest river island in Northeast India—an island slowly disappearing due to erosion, flooding, and the shifting course of the river. For centuries, the pulsating presence of the Brahmaputra River’s massive flow has defined people’s history and identity, shaping not only their territories but also their individual destinies.
Rather than focusing on catastrophe, the project traces an intimate portrait of a community shaped by spiritual continuity, cultural memory, and a sacred coexistence with water. In Majuli, time is cyclical, marked by the monsoons and the river’s unpredictable rhythm. As floods become more frequent and infrastructure reshapes the ecosystem, traditional ways of life are under threat.
Yet, what emerges is not only loss—but resilience. The islanders’ instinctive and adaptive relationship with the river reveals a model of climate adaptation rooted in humility, coexistence, and ancestral wisdom. Their daily lives speak of a fragile equilibrium where identity and environment are deeply intertwined.
Published by Carmencita Film Lab
Support of the József Pécsi Photography Scholarship and the Carmencita Grant, in collaboration with KODAK Professional Europe.
Andras Zoltai
András Zoltai (1990) is a documentary photographer, visual storyteller, and National Geographic Explorer currently based in Budapest, Hungary. He studied photojournalism at the Academy of the National Association of Hungarian Journalists.
His extensive documentary narratives blend journalistic and conceptual photographic approaches. By exploring social and environmental issues, he delves into the global and local challenges of our era and their ramifications on society, the dynamics of small communities, and individual lives. His photographic methodology unfolds through the exploration of individual destinies and personal encounters, where he instinctively hones in on the fragility of human identity and its continual evolution and adaptation.
His work has been published in numerous national and international publications such as Washington Post, Fisheye Mag, Society, Le Monde, M Mag, Libération, Courrier International, El País, La Repubblica, Coda Story, De Volkskrant among others and has been awarded several prestigious prizes and fellowships. He has been awarded three times the prestigious József Pécsi Photography Scholarship. Talent of the European Futures platform.
