L'Isola by Vittorio Mortarotti and Anush Hamzehian

A photobook by Vittorio Mortarotti, a photographer based in Turin, and Anush Hamzehian, a filmmaker based in Paris.

L'Isola is part of a broader project that documents an endangered language and culture on Yonaguni, the westernmost island of Japan. The project encompasses sound and audiovisual installations, a “Dunanmuchi (Yonaguni language)–English” dictionary, and this photobook.

According to UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, published in 2010, 250 languages have disappeared in the last 50 years, and 3,000 more are currently at risk of extinction. When a language disappears, it takes with it centuries-old precise knowledge—about plants, animals, diseases, and religions. But more than that, it also erases a worldview: a way of seeing and understanding life shaped by the language itself.

Today, more than 1,000 people live on Yonaguni Island, but only a handful still speak Dunanmuchi, the local language. Classified as a “severely endangered language,” it is expected to disappear entirely within a few years. Through this project, Mortarotti and Hamzehian attempt to archive the final images, final sounds, and fleeting glimpses of a vanishing community.

Limited edition of 500 copies.

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Title: L'Isola
Artist: Vittorio Mortarotti and Anush Hamzehian
Publisher: Skinnerboox, 2021
Format: Hardcover, case binding
Size: 257 × 204 mm
Pages: 384 pages
Language: English
Edition: First edition of 500 copies
ISBN: 9788894895490
Price: ¥8,140