© Francesca Piqueras

Panic Point

Francesca Piqueras

2019 — Cabo Blanco, Peru

About this series

I travelled to northern Peru, near the border with Ecuador, to a surfing spot in Cabo Blanco called “Panic Point”, where Hemingway used to fish marlins. It is known as “Panic Point” because surfers cannot afford any mistakes. If they don’t exit the wave at the right moment, they crash on the rocks, with no hope of survival. It all started when I rediscovered an old Peruvian acquaintance. On his wall was a perfect wave — and behind it a strange shape, partially obscured. Oil rigs can be imposing and arrogant. But hidden behind a wall of water, these half-drowning structures can seem fragile, almost vulnerable. 

Facing the ocean, a series of straw huts welcome surfers from all over the world. In this windblown village, with roads built for the trucks of the oil companies, I discern the silhouettes of wandering dogs and gallizanos, a kind of scavenging vulture. Beyond the village, a desert covered in pipelines, like ostriches hiding their head in the sand. Francesca Piqueras

© Francesca Piqueras
© Francesca Piqueras
© Francesca Piqueras
© Francesca Piqueras
© Francesca Piqueras
© Francesca Piqueras
© Francesca Piqueras

Photographer: Francesca Piqueras
Nationality: italian
Based in: Paris, France
Website: www.francescapiqueras.com
Instagram: @francesca_piqueras

Francesca Piqueras is a French fine art photographer born in Milan (Italy). Both her parents were artists, and she took photography when she was 13. After studying Fine Arts and Cinema, she worked in the movies industry as an editor, then decided to answer her call.
Her journey started in 2007, and took her to Bangladesh, Mauritania, Scotland, England, Peru, Cape-Verde, France, Argentina, Siberia, Italy and China, so far.
Her inner exploration of a post-industrial world gone mad, littered with rusting and decaying man-made structures reveals the brutal splendor of gigantic steel constructions – offshore platforms, shipwrecks, warlike forts – soon forgotten in the open sea, or stranded for a trip of no return on a forlorn beach.