The Last Proletarians — Horacio Sormani Photography

The Last Proletarians

Busy as I was, walking along the fringe of Amsterdam, one day I encountered an unusual sight: at a distance a group of men that, emerging from a mass of dark matter, looked like rusted iron. They could barely be recognised through the clouds of what appeared to be steaming water.

As a matter of fact, when I got closer, I recognized that those men, handling oxyacetylene torches, were busy cutting in pieces the remains of a ship lying close to the coast of a river canal.

Without losing any time I readied my camera and with some words and gestures I asked them if I could take some pictures. Seemingly almost uninterested, they gave me permission. Once I took some, not too much because I preferred not to remain long. I thanked them and continued on my way. It was February 1988

The pictures were astonishing. A couple of days later I went again to the place carrying some proofs of the pictures i had taken and I gave them to some of the men that, not without surprise, thank me earnestly. I remained again some time with them taking more pictures. From time to time I reappeared by the same place and kept taking pictures. A time arrived when I exchanged some words with them (they did not speak much, I must say) and they used to invite me to their cabin during lunch-time.

After some months, I decided to put an end to my work and let them have a collection of the pictures I had taken, at a gathering where everybody was present. I never thought that in The Netherlands anyone did such risky work: the breaking up of a ship in the open, in a humid environment, covered with soot and particles from the metal that the torch was slowly cutting.

I never forgot them, as they were indirectly responsible for my first portfolio in a photographic magazine. When I had the opportunity to organise a presentation of the pictures for the first time, in October of 1989, I returned to the same place. It was almost empty now and I gave them some invitations for the opening of the exhibit. I understood very well why they did not come, although their boss called me on the phone and sent greetings from the whole group.

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A selection from The Last Proletarians was featured in Dutch photography magazine FOTO, in November 1989, and was first shown at Gallery 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 in Amsterdam.

Alternative Care

Fringe