Location: FRANCE

Photographing the life on the boat of the fishermen of Normandy, I’ve understood how much fishing manages to combine the spiritual and manual aspect of work. Norman fishermen often stay days in the sea. They fish for saint jacques shells and fish.The life on Normandy fishing boats looks as a theater show, the nets and the metal cables are the backdrop. Every single gesture of the fishermen moves to the rhythm of the wind and has a very specific meaning. The strength of their actions creates an ancestral ritual. Sometimes it is a ritual of a hard but honest struggle, other times it is a ritual of contemplation capable of speaking to nature. During their days at sea,the fishermen experience extreme solitude but at the same time a close relationship with the other crew members, which is not just a working relationship, but a deep friendship and brotherhood. The abysses preserve treasures and hide tragedies. The fishing on the Normandy coasts has been handed down for centuries from generation to generation. Today there are several factors that test the love and the obsession of fishermen for this work: the spread of industrial fishing,the price of the fuel, the problems related to Brexit, the project to build wind turbines where there are fishing routes. Around fishing lives a community that shares joys and sorrows,expectations and efforts, farewells and reunions, but above all the same unique experience of spending the existence at sea, welcoming the sunrise and the falling of the night.

ABOUT CIRO BATTILORO

Ciro Battiloro (Torre del Greco, 1984) is an italian photorapher based in Napoli. He studied philosophy at “Federico II” University.He uses a very intimate appro­ach and throught everyday life he discusses more general’s social thematics. In particular his research of the last years is focused on some urban marginalities in South Italy. In 2015 he was selected for the 2nd edition of LAB, Laboratorio Irregolare created by Antonio Biasiucci.He was selected for the artistic residencies: Bocs Art ,Up-Urban People, Tremplin Jeunes talent. His works have been published in several magazines and been exposed in different museum/galleries and festivals.