The Fisherman

The Fisherman is a photographic project made in 2016 in the harbour area of Essaouira, Morocco, during the last week of the Ramadan. Formerly known as Mogador, this city in the western Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast, continues to be marked by the histories that made it Morocco’s principal port until the end of the nineteenth century. The imprints of colonialism, diplomacy and trade can still be felt in the city’s administrative and social structure, but the old medina, with its endless labyrinthine alleyways, has been deeply affected by urbanization and global economic shifts. In some ways, this echoes the situation of a number of places around the globe, among which Brazil. Impressed on outdated film, the photographs resemble old photographs and stress the fractures between past, future and the present realities of the site. The camera moves almost cinematographically to document the site, revealing the traditional and popular structures at work in the picturesque appearances presented to the foreign gaze.

Inkjet prints on recycled newspaper, 30 x 30 cm, 2016. This series is exhibited in November 2017 – February 2018 at London Review in London, UK.