Nazaré (2020.10 - 2021.04)

Nazaré is a Portuguese fishing town located in the Oeste Region that historically relies on the sea for sustenance and economic stability. Fishing is carried out by the village men who propel their boats into the sea, while the women manage the daily governance of the town. For decades, some of these men never returned to land due to shipwrecks and harsh Atlantic storms. The identity of these men and their circumstances remains forgotten. These storms generate swell directions that activate Europe's deepest underwater canyon, amplifying waves up to 100 feet tall toward Praia do Norte. Since 2011, this natural phenomenon has attracted the sport of big wave surfing and a group of athletes who prove what is humanly possible today. They operate in the shadow of those lost at sea, catching the next wave like the fishermen who cast their nets, “as if under the command of an invisible master” (François Mauriac, 1955).