A Journey of the Fish - Sardinha by Martin Miklas

If you are looking for a unique and compelling story about the fishing industry in Portugal, you should look no further than the story of the sardines. It is a story of tradition, struggle and hope in the face of adversity. It's a story that is unique to Portugal, but one that has universal relevance in today's world.

Journey of the Fish became also my own journey in the sardines’ pathway exploring all the aspects along the way from south to north and east of Portugal as well as from history through presence looking up towards the future.

The Sardines fishing industry in Portugal has a rich history dating back centuries. It has been an important source of livelihood for many coastal communities and a staple food source for many people. However, in the 20th century, the industry began to modernize and expand, leading to overfishing and the depletion of sardine stocks. This has had significant social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts on the communities that rely on the fishery. The decline of sardine stocks has led to a decline in the number of jobs in the fishing industry, causing economic hardship for many coastal communities and a loss of traditional knowledge and skills related to sardine fishing.

The story of Sardines fishing industry in Portugal is a story of how modernization, overfishing and disregard for the environment can have dire consequences on the local communities and the ecosystem. But it is also a story of resilience and hope, as the local communities and authorities are working together to revive the industry in a sustainable way. It allows you to dive deep into the fascinating story and explore the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the Sardines fishing industry in Portugal.

Tears of Scarlet © Martin Miklas

The Chromatic Secret © Martin Miklas

Ink of Tragedy© Martin Miklas

Nocturnal Symphony: Seagulls’ Ballet on the Brine © Martin Miklas

Scarlet Echoes © Martin Miklas

Martin Miklas
Lisbon-based documentary photographer from Bratislava/Slovakia whose primary focus is on sociological changes in Eastern Europe and socioeconomical and ecological impact on the fishing industry in Portugal. Presently proud father and one of the alumni of the 2022-23 VII Photo Agency Masterclass.
miklasmartin.com
@martinstudio.sk
@miklas.photo
All about Martin Miklas

Sunny Elegy © Martin Miklas

Whispers of Carnage © Martin Miklas

Spiraling Serenade: Melodies of Togetherness © Martin Miklas

Crimson Tide © Martin Miklas

The Whispers of a Fishdom Among the Stars © Martin Miklas

Michael Joseph: Lost & Found

By Michael Joseph

Publisher : Kehrer Verlag

2024 | 144 pages

Lost & Found documents a contemporary American subculture of young Travelers through raw, striking portraiture and intimate storytelling. These Travelers abandon home to move around the country by hitchhiking and freight train hopping in a nomadic, transient existence outside of mainstream society. Along their personal journey driven by wanderlust, escapism, or a search for transient jobs, they find a new family in their traveling friends.

The high of freedom, however, does not come without consequence. The black and white portraits are made in public, on the street, using natural light. Individual stories, as a collection, form a greater narrative. Over ten years in the making, Joseph’s portraits reveal the human condition. They capture courage, tenderness, and determination in his subjects that have been largely ignored and unseen.

An incredible book that we highly recommend! All About Photo

All About Michael Joseph

I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now

By Pauline Vermare

Publisher : Aperture

2024 | 440 pages

I’m So Happy You Are Here presents a much-needed counterpoint, complement, and challenge to historical precedents and the established canon of Japanese photography. This restorative history presents a wide range of photographic approaches brought to bear on the lived experiences and perspectives of women in Japanese society. Editors Pauline Vermare and Lesley A. Martin, curator and writer Takeuchi Mariko, and photo-historians Carrie Cushman and Kelly Midori McCormick provide a critical historical and contemporary framework for understanding the work in three richly illustrated essays. Additional context is provided by an in-depth illustrated bibliography by Marc Feustel and Russet Lederman, and a selection of key critical writings from leading Japanese curators, critics, and historians such as Kasahara Michiko, Fuku Noriko, and others, many of which will be published in translation for the first time. While this book does not claim to be fully comprehensive or encyclopedic, its goal is to provide a solid foundation for a more thorough conversation about the contributions of Japanese women to photography—and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in a more robust history of Japanese photography.

Lisa McCord: Rotan Switch

By Lisa McCord

Publisher : Kehrer Verlag

2024 | 204 pages

Rotan Switch is the first monograph by Lisa McCord, documenting life on her grandparents’ cotton farm in the Arkansas Delta community of Rotan. It takes its name from the community’s central landmark—the railroad switch where farmers loaded their cotton bales onto trains headed out of the Delta. Although it hasn’t been used in years, it remains a potent symbol of the complex intersections of industry and agriculture, of race and injustice. Collected over the last forty-four years, these images and stories are a reflection on the people and places that have taught McCord the meaning of the word home. It is also a self-exploration into her inherently complicated role in this community as both the photographer and the granddaughter of the farm owner.
This publication is a long-term project, constructed from McCord's analog photographs, family snapshots and ephemera. Including, monochrome photographs, color polaroids, and recipes.

All About Lisa McCord

João Pina: Tarrafal

By João Pina

Publisher : GOST Books

2024 | 284 pages

João Pina draws upon his family history to tell the story of the Portuguese concentration camp at Tarrafal, Cape Verde which operated between 1936 and 1974. The visual history of the camp is told through the only known photographs taken inside the Tarrafal camp, combined with correspondence, archives, objects and Pina’s own contemporary photographs. Collectively these materials create a new dialogue about the Portuguese fascist regime of the past—and the resistance to it—on the 50th anniversary of its demise. In 1949, Pina’s grandfather Guilherme da Costa Carvalho—a young communist militant— was sent to the camp. Later that year Guilherme’s parents were granted unprecedented permission to visit their son and using a Rolleiflex camera they photographed all the living prisoners and the graves of the ones who had died in the camp. This extensive visual record—the only one ever made inside the concentration camp—was created with the intent of reporting back to the families of the other prisoners held in the camp or had died there. Seventy years later, in 2019, Pina began investigating a box in his family archive containing the negatives, contact sheets, vintage prints of these pictures made inside the camp, along with related letters and telegrams sent from his grandfather.

A Journey of the Fish - Sardinha by Martin Miklas

Selected Books