Valérian Mazataud, liwa mairin, la femme de l’eau — Serge Allaire

[Winter 2022]

Valérian Mazataud, liwa mairin, la femme de l’eau, Montréal, à compte d’auteur, 2021, non paginé

Montréal, à compte d’auteur, 2021, non paginé

By Serge Allaire

[Excerpt]
Valérian Mazataud’s most recent work takes us on an adventure to the island of Bobel, a huge rock rising out of the Caribbean Sea fifty kilometres off the coast of La Mosquita, one of the last untouched regions on the planet. The Honduran and Nicaraguan Miskitos who live on the island are considered the best divers in Central America and are recruited by Honduran fishing businesses to gather lobsters, sea cucumbers, and conches for North American and Asian markets. It’s a highly lucrative trade that generates millions of dollars for these companies.

Over the years, this systematic fishery has been exhausting the ocean depths, forcing the divers to descend ever deeper, and endangering their health and even their lives. They are forced to seek their bounty at more than forty metres’ depth – a risky undertaking. Given the horrible working conditions, due among other things to equipment that is in large part obsolete, many end up disabled or die at a young age…
Translated by Käthe Roth.

[ Complete issue, in print and digital version, available here: Ciel variable 119 – AGAINST NATURE ]
[ Complete article and more images, in digital version, available here: Valérian Mazataud, liwa mairin, la femme de l’eau — Serge Allaire ]