The chirping of crickets forms the natural soundtrack to Isaan life. In Dansai, a district in Isaan, northeast Thailand, agricultural wisdom is entwined with Buddhism and animistic traditions. These serve to remind the community that survival depends on tending the earth so that it may, in turn, sustain them. But Isaan, known as the breadbasket of the nation, is now at the forefront of Thailand’s environmental crisis. Sparse rain limits the dissolution of nutrients in the soil, while floods wash away topsoil, further degrading the fragile land.

“Crickets in the Dust” is the first chapter of an ongoing, long-term photography project about Dansai shot on film. For generations, crickets and other insects have supplemented the Isaan diet. Now some farmers are adapting to using cricket frass, derived from exoskeletons and the waste of farmed crickets, to replenish lost minerals in the soil. This project, combined with a short documentary film, explores the tension between climate change and Dansai’s deeply held spiritual and agricultural traditions.

Supported, in part, by the IMF’s “Visions of Thailand” grant and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.