TITLE: Pesquero

Chile's disarray and political corruption are not only prominent in the capital but also seep through to the fishing industry. Terminal Pesquero de Santiago is notorious for its illegal dealings and bad practices. The pungent smell lingers on your clothes and skin from the unhygienic state of the warehouse. Deals are brokered behind closed doors or in secrecy. Labourers are overworked for a minimum wage. Foreign faces and cameras are unwelcomed. In the ocean, the marine ecosystem is threatened by commercial fishing with trawlers. They are one of the most significant and detrimental causes of declines in marine wildlife populations. Overfishing occurs when fleets of ships catch more fish and by-catch than can be replenished. By-catch is the unintentional capture of sea life while fishing for a different species. The damage done goes beyond the marine environment as fish is a primary source of protein and livelihood of thousands in Chile and millions around the world. As Voltaire once said, "Men argue. Nature acts.", the clash between activists and politicians continues as Mother Earth acts and claims back what is rightfully hers and belongs to no man. With politics gone askew, another danger lingers. A silent crisis lingers as the population faces the scarcity of water and exposure to high levels of ultraviolet radiation from the depletion of the ozone layer. This climate change crisis is clearly seen in the countryside as a herd of horses graze along the terrain, and eerie gusts of wind travel across great vast plains. Overlooked by the Andes mountains and luscious hills, the overgrown vegetation gently bows to the wind. The lake bed withering away, parched and cracked yearning for the heavens to cry rivers just once more.

AUTHOR: Joelle Soraya Batista Iseli (France)

Joelle Soraya Batista Iseli is an International Award-Winning Photographer. She has been awarded 4 Honorable Mentions and 2 Official Selections in the prestigious International Photography Awards in New York within four consecutive years — 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Her passion for photography has always been about Cultural Identity which aims to promote cultural education and remove the prejudices that individuals have against one another based on race, religion, background, etc and portray the beauty of humanity. Her work has been exhibited multiple times in Tribeca, Manhattan, NYC as well as in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Chiang Mai, Thailand; and Basel, Switzerland. Self-taught for over a decade with only one camera and one lens. She has traveled the world and lived in fourteen countries. Her international background has enabled her to connect deeply with a wide range of cultures and their heritage. Her driving force is the clear goal to one day have her body of work exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET) in New York and to participate in Art Basel in the near future.