Welcome to Sodom

Dark wisps of smoke and flickering flames twist around a barely discernible grey horizon. Here, on the outskirts of the metropolis of Accra in Ghana, about 6’000 women, men and children are living and working on the world's largest electrical waste dump, a place they call "Sodom". Some 250’000 tons of discarded computers, smart phones, printers, and other devices from a distant, electrified, digitised world illegally make their way to Sodom year after year. The apocalyptic setting, however, also marks a place which is full of perspectives for its residents. The electronics cemetery promising a modest living also attracts people from neighbouring countries. In the midst of scrap and ash Sodom’s population is dancing and singing. In the hope of a better future, they turn the landfill into a lively place full of creativity and joie de vivre. In WELCOME TO SODOM we enter a surreal environment in which the reality of our wasteful consumption is made manifest.