Il Mare in Mezzo (The Sea In Between)
Antonio Denti, Italy
Antonio Denti is an award-winning news cameraman with a passion for still photography, born in Catania, Sicily, in 1972. Since 1998, he has worked for Reuters, covering significant global events from conflicts to humanitarian crises. His work has earned numerous awards and been exhibited internationally, reflecting his belief in the power of visual storytelling to promote authentic and meaningful journalism.
At the heart of”Il Mare in Mezzo” are the moving efforts of migrants – mostly migrant mothers and their Italian-born kids – to make peace with the sea after surviving the deadly crossing of the Mediterranean. Its protagonists are a group of African migrant mothers and their Italian-born kids whom I follow to the seaside near Rome as they take part to an initiative meant to help them hopefully overcome the trauma of the deadly crossing of desert and sea they experienced. In the migratory route that I had the chance to witness – from Africa to Europe – the sea is central. Before the journey, the sea is what stands between home and destination, present and dream. After the journey, the sea still stands between exile and homecoming, achievement and return. The sea to migrants is both a liquid desert with a promise of death and danger and an infinite bridge blue bridge that connects home and away, away and home. The sea separates and connects, but it must be engaged if one wants to leave or go back home. And engaging the sea takes a lot of courage. The migrant mothers and their Italian born children pictured here trying to overcome the traumas by reconnecting with the sea near Rome are brave. To me, migration is the Odyssey of our times, but is an epic with no poet. Yet it should be considered world’s heritage, a monument to the courage of humans to change their fate. ”Il Mare in Mezzo” hopes to highlight a fragment of this starting from the ”sea reconciliation” efforts of a group of mothers.