Summer love
Only in 2022, more than 18,000 people arrived in Calabria through the so-called ‘Turkish route’.
On the morning of February 26th, 2023, a shipwreck occurred off the coast of Steccato, in Cutro, in the province of Crotone (Calabria, Italy). The boat was carrying about 180 migrants from various countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Somalia and Palestine.
Human traffickers, mainly Turks and Syrians, gathered all the migrants in Istanbul. After arriving in Çeşme, on the Aegean Sea, the migrants were crammed into a boat that immediately collapsed. At that point, they are taken aboard the ‘Summer love‘, a caique, a Turkish fishing boat, 25 meters long, flying the Greek flag.
On the evening of February 24th and on the morning of February 25th, the I.M.R.C.C. (Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre), issued a mayday to all ships in transit, asking them to pay attention and report a boat in difficulty in the Ionian Sea. A Search And Rescue (SAR) device was opened.
On February 25th, at 10.26 P.M., a Frontex aircraft (European Border and Coast Guard Agency) reported the sighting of a boat 40 miles south of the Calabrian coast:
- ‘The crew detected […] a satellite phone call from the boat to Türkiye.
- 1 person was identified on the upper deck.
- There were possible additional people below the deck as the hatches at the bow were open and there was “significant thermal response from the hatches”.‘
At 3.48 A.M., the Guardia di Finanza reported that their vessels were forced to stop due the ‘adverse weather conditions’.
At approximately 4.00 A.M. the boat, which was sailing at high speed, collided with a shoal 200 meters from the beach, splitting the keel. Some of the migrants were thrown overboard. The Coast Guard received several phone calls from migrants, Carabinieri and eyewitnesses of the tragedy. At that point the rescue procedures started.
94 lifeless bodies were found.
35 of them were children.
This series is part of the video Summer Love, promoted by the Economy and Finance Assessorato of the Calabria Region and under the patronage of the Calabria Film Commission, as part of the project for the first commemoration to the Cutro shipwreck.
My camera is heavier than usual.
I brought the flashes with me but I preferred to set up a simple scene, using a single light source: the natural light that entered from one of the doors of the Civil Protection shed.
I started taking pictures after cleaning a white panel I found at the site. As I shot, the bottom filled up with sand and other debris.
I tried to place the clothes in a simple way, almost without touching them. In some cases I rearranged some items, trying to restore a minimum of dignity, even if I fear it is a useless and presumptuous gesture.
The brands appear on the sweatshirts, including Manière De Voir which is represented with crossed out lettering, as if what I have in front of my eyes, everything that has happened and perhaps even my documentation, are a wrong way of seeing, a wrong point of view.
I tried not to make a show of things, not to make sophisticated shots, but to limit myself to a zenithal shot. I thought it was necessary to use this point of view, as if it were more objective, with the aim of creating a sample collection, a catalog of these clothes and personal belongings.
I chose not to photograph underwear, because I don’t want my images to be sensational. I would
like them to be insignificant photographs. I wish I had hadn’t taken them. I wish there hadn’t been the opportunity to take them.
