35 – Michele Sibiloni
Italy (1981)Nsenene
Twice a year, after each rainy season, all Ugandans wait for the arrival of the ‘nsenene’. For several weeks, hunters set makeshift traps and use bright lamps to lure these bush crickets at night-time. When taking a picture, the light is so intense that the camera sensor enshrouds the image with a green halo. In this relentless hunt, the money goes to whoever manages to keep these delicacies alive and then sell them on the market at the crack of dawn.
Michele Sibiloni started her Nsenene project in 2015, documenting the underside of this poorly regulated industry: the dire conditions in which seasonal workers live, and the decline in insect numbers due to climate change. Combining past and future, tradition and innovation, hunting such insects offers prospects for our entire planet.
