Federico Scoppa Photojournalist

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The last sea silk maestro { 30 images } Created 16 Jun 2017

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  • Chiara Vigo performing a prayer to the sea at sunset on the western coast of Sant'Antioco Island. Many of the tradition followed by the maestro have a very mystical side related to the old coltures of the island. One if the last remnant of a combination of Jewish and Phoenician religious practices that was once far more widespread in the Mediterranean. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Chiara Vigo cleaning an old piece of byssus. The Pinna Nobilis is now a protected animal and colleting the bisso is not allowed anymore. Chiara Vigo studied a system to take the byssus from the big bivalve without killing the animal. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • The small village of Sant'Antioco seats on an island conected by a bridge to Sardinia. Pinna Nobilis, the bivalve producing byssus lives in waters sourrounding the island. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Building a byssus wire it's quite a long process, the bisso must be cleaned, the small filaments must be separated and then spined. If during the spinning the wire breaks a woman in the room or a relative are waiting for a baby, tradition says. Byssus is belived to bring good fortune and fertility. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • To change the color of the wire byssus is immersed in a liquid composed with lemon juice and other secret componets. After that the Maestro blows a long whistle in the glass. It helps to break the color molecule, she says. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • After the short chemical  process involving lemon and cedar juice  and secret spieces, byssus, exposed to the sun shines in gold-green colors. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • The maestro working at her  loom, during the process no needls are used, all the fabrics are worked using her nails. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • An arazzi made of linen, byssus silk and gold. It took 10 years to finis this one.  Patterns are not writen and the maestro memorized hundres of them as songs she sings while working at the loom. She is the only one still knowing those patterns and having the skills to repoduce them.  Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Chiara Vigo showing on of her pieces in the sun. All she does is not for sale, the tradition says that she is just the 'hand of the sea' and the arazzi are given, this is part of the oath she did to her grandmother, becoming a byssus silk  Maestro.  Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Many tourist pass by her shop to see her working. The entrance is free and she only lives on donations and her husband who was a forme coal miner pension.  Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A bracelet entirely made of bisso, products are very precious and often mentioned in book as the Bible. It was used in Egypt, Greece and Rome.  Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Chiara Vigo working some rought byssus her grand mother left her. She is the only one still having a reserve on byssus after the fishing of the pinna nobilis was decleared illegal. Other byssus fabric could be comming from illegal fishing, something the Maestro says it can happend. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Chiara Vigo working at her loom. She often works on canvasses for wedding or baptism, but nothing she do is fore sale. The byssus is just part of the sea, you can not sell it, she says.  Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A 500 years old piece of bisso. Chiara Vigo is the 28 generation women working on bisso in her family. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Chiara Vigo performing a prayer to the sea in the western part of the island. Those prayer she inherit from her grand mother ar a mix of old Sardinian dialect and Hebrew. A large Jewish community used to live on the island. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A pinna nobilis clam, the bisso is a bundle of filament secreted by this bivalve mollusk that lives on sandy bottoms from few meter under the surface to about 40 meters. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • The inside of Pinna Nobilis clam, in the past those clams were often decorated and sold to turist as souvenirs. This one was painted by Chiara Vigo's grand father. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Old bisso filaments. Those were croped by Chiara Vigo's grand mother and is the result of about one year of fishing. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • The byssus after been combed. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A comb used to clean the byssus filaments. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A spindle used to built the byssus wire. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • The chemical preparation to change the byssus wire color. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A byssus wire. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Byssus ready to be spinned. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A byssus fabric bracelet. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A byssus fabric bracelet often used as wedding bracelet. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • A byssus tie Chiara Vigo made for his husband. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Chiara Vigo in one of her secret spot on the coast of Sant'Antioco. She started to dive to fish the Pinna Nobilis with her grand mother at the age of three. Now she is one of the few expert about the Pinna Nobilis biology.  Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • Chiara Vigo, the last byssus silk Maestro, shows a bracelet she made with byssus silk. In the past byssus was on of the finest fabric in the world.  Some belives the cloth God told Moses to lay on the first altar was made of byssus. Federico Scoppa 2017
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  • The sunset, western coast of the island of Sant'Antioco. Federico Scoppa 2017
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