The Ghanaian town of Elmina was founded in the 15th century by the Portuguese as the first European settlement in West Africa. While gold mining and the slave trade originally played an important role here, fishing is the most important source of income today. Without adopting the contemporary technology used in modern, industrial fishing, or the aggressive conduct of the Chinese fishing boats in particular, the fishermen of Elmina courageously fight for their existence. They have established small cooperatives that share out the income from their small-scale fishing among their members. In that way they can provide a living for themselves, without any form of governmental support.
About the Artist
Tomasz Tomaszewski (b. 1953, Poland) is a socially engaged press photographer whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, Time, Stern, National Geographic and Nieuwe Revu. He has published several books, including A Stone’s Throw, Remnants, The Last Jews of Poland, In Search of America and In the Centre. Tomaszewski also provided a contribution for the Noorderlicht project The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar.