Amaya Sumpsi Langreo

Fallings Tides drifts toward a small, wind-swept island off the southern coast of Portugal—Culatra, 30 minutes away from the shore by boat. Home to around 750 people, the island breathes with the rhythm of the sea and the Ria Formosa, a sweet-salt lagoon protected ecosystem of muddy areas and marshlands. For generations, its people have lived with what the tide brings in: women harvesting clams in the Ria and men casting nets into the Atlantic Ocean. Beneath this quiet, salt-air routine lies a history of resistance. In 1987, the community rose in defiance, boycotting the general elections—a beginning to a long-standing battle for the right to remain on the island and to live with dignity: potable water, sanitation, education, and a future. Today, the battleground has shifted to a global arena. Tourism pushes in like a rising tide, and foreign investors eye the fertile waters of the Ria for oyster farming. In this new struggle, women anchor the fight – not only as the island’s voice, but as stewards of everyday life: their gestures are acts of resistance. Resulting from a collaborative effort of a group of visual anthropologists, Falling Tides documents the Culatra Island as a living, breathing protagonist.