1991

Tuna Fishing, Trapani, Sicily, Italy

Brazilian, born 1944

Salgado's epic international study of manual labor drew the photographer to the fishing town of Trapani, Sicily, in 1991. There he surveyed the centuries-old tuna-fishing methods that today remain under threat of elimination by aggressive forms of modern industrial fishing. Preparations for La Mattanza, the annual springtime harvest during which bluefin tuna is collected in the Mediterranean waters off Trapani, begins during the Christian observation of Holy Week. A celebration of economic promise for the townspeople combines with traditional Easter ritual, resulting in a spectacular public festival brimming with a curious mix of religious and marine symbolism.