Italian photographer Giulio di Sturco spent eight years photographing the Ganges sacred waters, documenting it as both person and place in ‘Living Entity’.

The Ganges river, considered sacred by more than 1 billion Indians, has become the first non-human entity in India to be granted the same legal rights as people. A court in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand ordered that the Ganges and its main tributary, the Yamuna, be accorded the status of living human entities.

The Ganges is a prime example of the unresolved contradiction between man and the environment. The Ganges is a river intimately connected with every aspect of Indian life. It is a source of water, energy and livelihood for millions of people who live along the banks of this river and thanks to the fertile land, it provides food to more than one-third of the Indian population.

It’s ecosystem also includes one of the most numerous and varied animal and plant species. Despite this, today it is one of the most polluted rivers in the world because of toxic waste factories dump in its water every day, damaging human health and the environment that surrounds it. What will happen tomorrow? Is the Ganges destined to die under the blows of humanity, or can we hope for change?