Photographer Sonia Fattori and writer Marta Daneluzzi are the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary project. From the book ‘A Rock Called Lampedusa’. To see Sonia’s body of work, click on any photograph.

MARE NOSTRUM

Life, the peopling of the Earth, it all began in water, and perhaps that is why we continue to feel the call of the sea. Within each of us remains the indelible mark of a profound relationship, a special connection whose absence we feel deeply, and which is rekindled in an instant when, at last, we return.

There are, however, those who do not need to return, those who live by the sea and grow up with it, who know it intimately, perceive its moods in a reflection or in the changing wind, and resemble it a little. The sea is a childhood friend, witness to all their days, confidant and accomplice to their adventures, a calendar, a teacher, a source of comfort and survival.

When the island’s soil became arid and its harvest poor, the settlers turned to the sea, and it answered, rich and generous. Yet there are those who remain, because they could do nothing else. It is in their DNA, instinctive as breathing, a need like thirst. The fishermen know this well.

They first stepped aboard a boat as children and never truly left it. It was the boat of those who passed on the legacy of this profession, one that comes to shape an entire life, forging character, body, and gaze. They embody the passing years, the generations of fishermen who came before them, and the lives devoted to the sea with hard work, patience, and sacrifice.

Sonia Fattori was born in Udine, Italy, in 1967. At around the age of ten, she discovered photography, and since then the camera has been her travelling companion and her way of observing the world. It is through travel that her photography finds its fullest expression, through a visual language attentive to the relationship between people, place, and memory. She founded the association «Vento di Terre Lontane» to support cooperation projects in Mali and Burkina Faso through photographic storytelling. She has produced reportages, multimedia presentations, and exhibitions in Italy and abroad. In 2022, together with journalist Marta Daneluzzi, she published the photographic book A Rock Called Lampedusa; in 2026, the biographical book Franco Maschio, Simply an Artist, dedicated to the artist Franco Maschio.

Marta Daneluzzi was born in Udine, Italy, in 1971. She has always been fascinated by words and their power to create reality and transport us anywhere. Writing has challenged her since childhood, when, as an elementary school pupil, she would stare in astonishment at the blank page beneath the heading: «Essay». Fixing a sound into written characters, stripping it of its voice and nuances, making it concrete, unquestionable, and definitive, frightened her greatly. She preferred to play, always with deep respect, with the ethereal nature of words, working for several years as a radio speaker. Yet her inability to resist challenges often led her back to the pen. She collaborated on the screenplay of the documentary film The Voice of Impastato; she writes for several magazines and has curated texts for multimedia presentations and photographic exhibitions. In 2022, together with photographer Sonia Fattori, she published the photographic book A Rock Called Lampedusa; in 2026, the biographical book Franco Maschio, Simply an Artist, dedicated to the artist Franco Maschio.

All images © Sonia Fattori and text © Marta Daneluzzi