Six degrees South is the latitude of the Zanzibar archipelago and the exact geographical centre of the Swahili coast. Emerging in the tenth century through trading with the Arab and Persian worlds, India and China, the Swahili Coast is as much a linguistic and cultural reality as a physical one. The ancient seafaring traditions of this region, along with the strong links between its inhabitants and the sea, are inseparable from its cultural and religious traditions, and especially Islam.
The documentary presented here looks at the growingly uncertain future of these communities along the East African coast. A dramatic drop in the stocks of fish has been observed, as well as important changes to the environment due to climate change. It seems highly likely that these men and women will be forced to leave their coastline homes over the coming decades to populate the shanty towns around the big cities, leading to the abandon of their thousand-year-old traditions.
I have undertaken this project as a veritable record for posterity in the light of the threats faced by these populations and their collective savoir-faire. Travelling around the region for two years, I wanted to immortalise this well-defined but disappearing culture bridging different civilisations. This documentary contains 170 images of the highest quality.

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