The Devil’s Garden documents Bedouin communities living amidst Second World War minefields in Egypt's Western Desert.
It is estimated that approximately 17 million unexploded anti-personnel and anti-tank mines; artillery shells; bombs dropped by aircraft and machine gun, small arms and mortar rounds remain beneath the sand.
The Western Desert is an area rich in natural resources but whereas areas allocated for luxury beach resorts and Petroleum Company compounds have been cleared of unexploded ordnance, Bedouin land has not benefited from such programmes.
Official records of incidents involving UXO have not been kept until recently but it is believed thousands of Bedouin have been killed or injured since the end of the Second World War.
The term ‘Devil’s Gardens’ was first used by the German General Erwin Rommel to describe the box-like areas of minefields and barbed wire installed by Allied and Axis forces during the conflict.
Andrew Youngson is a London-based photographer whose work deals with time, landscape and memory,
specifically in relation to armed conflict.
In recent years he has worked with UNICEF in Ethiopia; Al Haq in Palestine; SOS Sahel and Book Aid
International in the UK and Bedouin communities affected by Second World War land mines in Egypt.
After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Andrew interned at Magnum Photos, London and
has been working as a freelance photographer since 2005.
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