On my recent travels through Spain I bumped into "The Pigs". A photo album with its title a reference to the unflattering acronym used to group together the economically unfortunate countries of Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain.
Carlos Spottorno's photos taken since 2008 poke fun at economic stereotypes. “What stands out the most,” says Spottorno, “is the glaring absence of all that is positive, beautiful and promising . . . This book shows much of what we find embarrassing.”
PIGS is a term coined by the business and financial press as a way to refer to Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain during their current financial plight. Some would also include Ireland in this group, but since it never possessed an empire, it hasn’t had to face the loss in historical prominence that the PIGS have.