Her photographs and paintings documenting or capturing the atmosphere of rituality in the tradition of artisanal tainha fishing in the Santa Catarina region of Brazil are inspired by a natural phenomenon: in winter, as the waters become colder, schools of fish migrate from the south to the coast along the Brazilian shoreline to spawn, where the fishing communities await them. Traditionally, motorboats, diving, and all noisy sports or games are forbidden at this time. The wait is silent and long and only when perfect weather arrives, the fishermen go into the sea in wooden canoes to cast their nets, as did the ancient indigenous peoples in the region of Bombinhas and Florianpolis, also populated by immigrants who learned artisanal fishing. The Pesca da tainha series is also a celebration of the bounty of natural elements, and the predominant aquamarine color portrays a world of water where fish to feed humans are plentiful. 300,000 years ago, a member of the genus Homo took a clam shell and carved a zigzag inside it. Murphy extends in her work the immemorial gesture of the species that creates art around the obtaining of food and the primeval activities to procure it.

By Adriana Herrera Téllez PhD