LAMPARA

Over the past twelve years I have been documenting nights aboard the Joan of Arc – a thirteen-meter sixty-year-old fishing boat from Marsaxlokk, a port in the southeast of Malta. Owned and captained by Antoine Abela, and crewed by seasonal Egyptian fishermen, the boat is one of the last in Malta still practicing lampara fishing – a method that uses light to attract fish into a surrounding net. This selection of photographs provides an intimate, humane perspective into the lives of fishermen, the environment in which they work and the poetics in which their experiences are inscribed.

On a personal level this work speaks to the many ways we relate to each other, the kind of bonds we establish with our neighbours, the way we choose to behave, collaborate and socialise in difficult situations, and the frailty and the resilience of people in times of duress.

It speaks of how we adapt to particular conditions, the way we inhabit a space and how this space or environment shapes us in return.

It speaks of isolation, solidarity and precarious living.

It also speaks of inherited practices, tacit knowledge and the diverse complex realities that define the Mediterranean Sea and its peoples.

Beyond the immediacy of the boat, this work also speaks about gender roles in fishing communities, disappearing traditions and endangered cultural practices and inherited knowledge. It speaks about migration, economics and geopolitics and brings to attention the many ways the lives of individuals intersect and reflect the broader realities of the Mediterranean.

This project includes audio-visual installations, family documents, soundscapes and video works.