Of Dust and Light

Seeing, over time

  • Fish Market

    Catania, Sicily

    Fishmonger at Pescheria Fish Market in Catania, Sicily, slicing tuna with a cleaver.

    The market opened with the clanking of knives and the cry of seagulls. Crates of anchovies and sea bass glistened in the first light. Salt, blood, and the smell of the sea permeate the air.

    Among the catch, a severed grouper head stood out. Its eyes: large, glassy, ​​and accusatory.

    Close-up of a grouper fish head surrounded by fillets and cuts of fish meat at the Pescheria fish market in Catania, Sicily.

  • In Seville

    Seville, Andalusia

    Entrance of a restaurant called "La Cucaña Triana" in Seville, Spain. The façade is decorated with numerous chalkboards displaying colorful handwritten menu items such as tapas, mojitos, croquetas, and daily specials. The signage highlights the restaurant’s founding year (1995) and invites guests to share meals in a lively, inviting atmosphere.

    Too much writing. I could not focus on any of it.
    Then the smell arrived: olive oil, garlic, salted cod, something frying.

  • Stranded

    Capo Bruzzano, Southern Italy — March 2007.

    Black and white photo of a fishing boat wreck leaning in the waves beneath stratified cliffs and a road, Capo Bruzzano, Calabria

    I stopped. No one was there.

    Later I learned the boat had carried Kurdish refugees. The Coast Guard rescued everyone.