Flaviana Frascogna was born in Naples in 1981. She began working in 2005 after getting a degree in Sociology, with a major in Anthropology. She has collaborated with various NGOs and the University of Naples (Federico II) where she was a researcher in Ethnography and Anthropology. She works with diverse kinds of photography, from theatre performance to reportage, in Italy and abroad.
Introduction
We are in Showara, the most important tannery in Fes, in the north of Morocco. It is divided into two areas, one with white bleach baths, which are used for pelt treatment, and one with coloured baths, which are used to dye the leathers for four days. It looks like an open hive with many little baths full of coloured paint.
Between the baths, the Moroccan workers prepare the colors. This technique of leather working has ancient origins and dates back to medieval times. The baths are still built with mud bricks and ceramic tiles.
The smell of the tannery is intensely unpleasant, but there are many people working here. The general shortage of jobs induces workers to accept irregular work conditions, in conditions that fall short of even the most basic health and safety requirements.
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/ Morocco
Typical Fes Babouche.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
Even children work in the tannery.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
This technique of leather working has ancient origins and dates back to medieval times.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
It is divided into two areas: one with white bleach tanks, which are used for pelt treatment, and one with coloured tanks, which are used to dye the leathers for four days.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
At the tannery’s upper level workers clean up the dyed leathers.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
The tanks are built, as in ancient times, with mud bricks and ceramic tiles.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
In the rooms around the courtyard there are tanks in which the leather is treated with colors.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
On the roof, some workers dye soft leathers with saffron dissolved in the oil of argan.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
A young worker between the tanks.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
Once colored, the leathers are brought to the sewers in the market.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
The smell of the lime discharge from the tanks is terrible. The chemical dyes can lead to serious skin and lung health issues.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
Among the tanks, plunging in waist deep sometimes or walking sideways, the Moroccan workers prepare the colors.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
A worker cutting the leathers.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
The smell of the tannery is intensely unpleasant, but there are many people working here.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
The apprentices move easily and quickly on the edges following the instructions given by the old ones.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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/ Morocco
The need of a job make the workers neglect even the simplest rules of hygiene and safety.
Photograph by Flaviana Frascogna / © Flaviana Frascogna. All Rights Reserved.
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