The photographs of Genoa’s industrial harbour from 1964 capture the deep and unspoken discord between the city and its port. And they bear witness to the strength of the social and cultural identity of the Ligurian capital in the 1960s and 70s, which was typical of Italian society as a whole in that era.

The intense rhythm of the port was documented in a series of photographs of the site itself, with its wharfs, warehouses and ships – all formally impeccable compositions. But the primary focus, for Carmi, was the difficult situation of the dockworkers compelled to labour under inhumane conditions, dealing with phosphate emissions with no protective clothing or masks, and carrying backbreaking loads.

Carmi tells with amusement how she gained entry to the docks by pretending to be a dockworker’s cousin – she couldn’t have documented the place otherwise. ‘I wanted to show the terrible conditions under which the dockers worked. They had to climb onto the refrigerated ships and shoulder frozen animal carcasses. They toiled between the freezing temperatures of the cold-storage hold and the heat, with nothing to protect them. They used to wrap their bare feet in rags. And they worked long shifts, night and day.’ 1 The result was an exhibition organised by her friend Enrica Basevi, which, after opening at the Società di Cultura in Genoa, was shown in several Italian cities and ultimately in the USSR.