Art Installation by Provincetown artists Ewa Nogiec and Norma Holt

When I visited Provincetown, MA last year, the photograph of the faces of the women mounted on the side of the Fisherman’s Wharf in Provincetown Harbor caught my attention. I saw the installation in passing when the whale watching boat that I was on was coming back to shore. I remember hearing the tour guide mention something about these photos, but I couldn’t hear the story very well from where I was standing. I later found out that these photos were of Eva Silva, Mary Jason, Bea Cabral and Frances Raymond, all of Portuguese descent.  According to what I’ve read, there is a fifth photo, that of Almeda Segura, which unfortunately was destroyed by the weather. These photos were meant as a tribute to the women of this fishing village, who demonstrated strength, courage and composure, keeping the community alive, while waiting for the return of their male seafaring counterparts who sailed and fished the waters of the Cape and the Atlantic.