Here below you'll find the presentation videos of some chapters from the forthcoming book
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Sunday, April 12, 2020
THE LAST FRONTIERS a forthcoming book
We are in the final editing of the book "THE LAST FRONTIERS, Journey Through The Borders Of Humanity".
This is the result of over twenty years of documentary reportage through the fringes of the modern world. Not only areas closed to political boundaries but also regions where humanity lives in a still pre-globalization phase.
I consider this a work in progress therefore I promise myself, and to you, updates to the project contents.
A small portion of the images (over 200 are included right now) has been exhibited already last year, but the show with the same name will feature more photos and will be ready with the book.
Some of these photos from the show are visible in the Fine Art Web Site, at this link.
And here is my presentation of the project:
When I started photographing, about forty years ago, I was inspired by a world still full of ethnic and cultural diversity. These have rapidly dissolved towards the end of the last century, or the millennium, if we are to be more historical. When I visited Guatemala for the first time, it was 1987, ninety percent of the population still wore traditional costumes. When I returned there, in 1998, this percentage had practically reversed: ten years had been enough to erase centuries, perhaps millennia, of culture and traditions. It was for this reason, due to the lack of important cultural varieties, that I devoted myself, in the last twenty years, the first of the new century, or of the new millennium, to the exploration of those fringes of the world where humanity lived still a pre-globalization phase.
These were the edges of the humanized world. Natural borders, where life still followed ancient rhythms because it was conditioned by the power of the environment. Or artificial, political borders, marked by history and by the contrasts of centuries. The former were already fading thanks to the rapid spread of technology, of the social networks that followed satellite television. The latter seemed destined to disappear thanks to economic globalization, the creation of free trade areas, the elimination of visas and passports. However, lines remained where contrasts and conflicts were concentrated, migratory flows and escapes from unlivable situations, walls that divided a world of apparent well-being from another that aspired to achieve the same conditions.
Then the reaction came. The opposition to the openings of the borders, the return of nationalisms, the fears of the different, have in fact slowed the commonality of thought that social networks were spreading over all humanity. In my view this is only a nostalgic and futile slowdown of a huge and inescapable process. opening the umbrella when a dam gives way. However, it comes too late to save that cultural diversity that is now compromised. What differentiates today those who are on both sides of our political lines is only the economic condition, not the set of values that everyone carries in his backpack. So these are no longer the boundaries that I was exploring before, the places where diversity was evident, confronted, sometimes exploded.
Those last cultural fringes continue to fade even when the walls are raised.
These were the edges of the humanized world. Natural borders, where life still followed ancient rhythms because it was conditioned by the power of the environment. Or artificial, political borders, marked by history and by the contrasts of centuries. The former were already fading thanks to the rapid spread of technology, of the social networks that followed satellite television. The latter seemed destined to disappear thanks to economic globalization, the creation of free trade areas, the elimination of visas and passports. However, lines remained where contrasts and conflicts were concentrated, migratory flows and escapes from unlivable situations, walls that divided a world of apparent well-being from another that aspired to achieve the same conditions.
Then the reaction came. The opposition to the openings of the borders, the return of nationalisms, the fears of the different, have in fact slowed the commonality of thought that social networks were spreading over all humanity. In my view this is only a nostalgic and futile slowdown of a huge and inescapable process. opening the umbrella when a dam gives way. However, it comes too late to save that cultural diversity that is now compromised. What differentiates today those who are on both sides of our political lines is only the economic condition, not the set of values that everyone carries in his backpack. So these are no longer the boundaries that I was exploring before, the places where diversity was evident, confronted, sometimes exploded.
Those last cultural fringes continue to fade even when the walls are raised.
Friday, April 10, 2020
MARI project: Book and Show updated again
In these Covid times we have been working on the MARI project, adding yet more photos (now 55 images) and a nice introduction by Massimo Morello, a true sea-lover.
Here, below the usual links, is the introduction in both English and Italian version.
Stay safe and enjoy!
Available in paperback on Amazon
Also available on Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle and Google Play
The 55 fine art photos catalogue for the show MARI (Seas) in an elegant
gallery of images from around the world. You can preview them on out Fine Art website at this link.
English and Italian Texts
“I am a farmworker,”
the “Mari” photographer often says. It is the proud claim of his cultural
heritage, of his close ties to his roots. Something deep-rooted and genetic
that also manifests in the place he calls home, where he sporadically and
briefly touches base and where the landlocked horizon offers plenty of
topographical, chromatic and conceptual variety.
Even so, he
spends much more of his time away from home. That is when seas appear on the
horizon of our photographer farmworker and he becomes the Mari photographer
(hereafter Mp).
Mari, the
plural form of mare (Italian for sea), denotes a geographical idea. As
civilisation historian Fernand Braudel wrote of the Mediterranean: “Not one
landscape but innumerable landscapes. Not a sea, but a succession of seas. Not
a civilization, but civilizations amassed on top of one another. The
Mediterranean is a very old crossroads. For millennia everything converges upon
it, mixing and enriching its history: pack animals, vehicles, goods, ships,
ideas, religions, arts of life”.
Seas
plural, then, not the one “Boundless Sea” described by David Abulafia in “Human
History of the Oceans”, in which he writes “ancient geographers (...) imagined
it to be a single Okeanos of intermingled waters, a concept revived in modern
use of the term ‘World Ocean’ to describe all the oceans as a single unit”. An
archetypal sea described by Philip Hoare, a kind of marine Henry Thoreau, in
“The Sea Inside”: “Perpetually renewing and destroying, the sea proposes a
beginning and an ending, an alternative to our landlocked state, an existence
to which we are tethered when we might rather be set free”.
In short,
seas are where our Mp spends a lot of time working, which is also true of
fishermen. In his essay “La letteratura italiana e il mare” (Italian Literature
and the Sea), Goffredo Fofi describes fishermen as “farmworkers of the sea”. In
Italy at least, “the world of fishermen and sailors had to be decisively,
firmly anchored to the land”. This is also true of the Mp. He is anchored not
just to his land of origin, his home village, fields and countryside which
continue to be his safe harbour, but also to the land as a geographical space,
the planet’s surface where, thinking back to Braudel, our entire history has
played out. One land surrounding the sea, then, not the other way round. You
only have to look at his images. Barring a few rare exceptions, the seas are
shot from land. It is the land that insinuates itself into the sea, that rises out
of it in the form of rocks and cliffs, that shapes its geometry, colours, life
and work. It is on the land that the sea leaves its mark, whether as shipwrecks
or the seabed revealed by a low tide.
In some shots
the seas are shown from above, providing a bird’s eye view of how the water
intersects with the land. Birds, not fish, are the animals seen most often in
the photographs. Air and land, then, more than sea. In Mp’s images, the seas
are almost latent, like exposed yet still indistinguishable images waiting to be developed in order to be
seen. It’s an action or interpretation that arises from the Mp’s professional
background. It’s what led him from the darkroom to the computer.
But what is
the real and most profound connection that ties our photographer farmworker to
the seas? The similarity between farmworkers and fishermen isn’t enough of an
explanation. Unless you look at it as a parable hiding a latent truth. In this
case, the unconscious desire to be a sailor, not a farmworker. And there’s one
simple reason for it, as explained by Björn Larsson in “Raccontare il mare”
(Stories of the Sea): “The advantage of being a sailor is that people expect
you to leave sooner or later. That’s the basis for his whole reputation. The
sailor who puts down roots quickly loses his rakish, adventurous appeal.” And
those who know Mp know how much he dislikes “putting down roots”. The sea is
where he channels his existential urges. “It gives you the chance to meet other
kinds of people, the locals in each place. And to live a nomadic life...the sea
is the place for trying out other lives, other thoughts, other identities,
other passions, for putting yourself on the line”. But there’s more. “It’s inspired
by the sea as a space where you are free to move around, where nation states
have not yet managed to put borders, a place where you can see far into the
distance, and where you can imagine what might be over the horizon.” It’s no
surprise that this kind of thinking is behind another of the Mp’s collections,
entitled “The Last Frontiers. A Journey Through the Borders of Humanity”, where
he recounts forty years of work inspired, at least initially, by a world rich
in ethnic and cultural diversity.
All this
talk of journeys and horizons brings to mind a quote: “Some years ago—never
mind how long precisely—(...) I thought I would sail about a little and see the
watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and
regulating the circulation”. I have left out the first three words, the most
famous ones, which would immediately identify it as the opening line of
“Moby-Dick”: “Call me Ishmael”. But only because I wanted to apply it to
myself. And to the Mari photographer, obviously.
«Sono un contadino» ripete spesso il fotografo
di “Mari”. È la rivendicazione orgogliosa di un’eredità culturale, di un legame
con le origini. Qualcosa di profondamente radicato, genetico, che manifesta
anche nel luogo che definisce casa, là dove vive le sue brevi stanzialità e
dove l’orizzonte è di terra in tutte le sue sfumature topografiche, cromatiche
e concettuali.
Ben più lunghi, però, i suoi periodi nomadici.
Ed ecco allora che all’orizzonte del nostro fotografo contadino appaiono i mari
e diviene il Fotografo di Mari (d’ora in poi FdM).
Mari, appunto, che nel plurale definiscono un’idea
geografica. Come ha scritto lo storico delle civiltà Fernand Braudel a
proposito del Mediterraneo: “Non un paesaggio, ma innumerevoli paesaggi. Non un
mare, ma un susseguirsi di mari. Non una civiltà̀, ma una serie di civiltà̀
accatastate le une sulle altre, insomma, un crocevia antichissimo. Da millenni
tutto vi confluisce, complicandone e arricchendone la storia: bestie da soma,
vetture, merci, navi, idee, religioni, modi di vivere”.
Mari, dunque, non il “Boundless Sea”, il mare
sconfinato narrato da David Abulafia nella sua “Human History of the Oceans” il
“mare immaginato dagli antichi geografi come un singolo Okeanos di acque
mescolate, concetto che rivive nell’uso contemporaneo di ‘mondo oceano’ per
descrivere gli oceani come una singola unità”. Il Mare archetipo descritto da
Philip Hoare, un Henry Thoreau marino, in “The Sea Inside”: “Nel suo continuo
ciclo di creazione e distruzione, il mare rappresenta un inizio e una fine,
un’alternativa a un’esistenza bloccata, un’esistenza cui siamo legati, quando
potremmo invece liberarci”.
Per il nostro FdM, insomma, questi sono un
luogo di lavoro, proprio come accade per i pescatori. Non a caso nel saggio “La
letteratura italiana e il mare”, Goffredo Fofi definisce i pescatori come “Contadini
del mare”. Almeno in Italia, “il mondo dei pescatori e dei marinai doveva
ancorarsi alla terra, decisamente, saldamente”. Anche, lui, il FdM, è
saldamente ancorato alla terra. Non solo a quella d’origine, terra come
territorio, borgo, campi e campagna, che continua a essere il suo approdo. Ma
anche alla terra in quanto spazio geografico, strato superficiale del pianeta,
dove, continuando a pensare a Braudel, si osserva lo sviluppo della storia. Una
terra, quindi che circonda il mare e non viceversa. Basta osservare le sue
immagini. Salvo rare eccezioni i mari sono ripresi dalla terra. È la terra che
s’insinua nel mare, che emerge dal mare in scogli e falesie, che frange le
onde, che ne definisce le geometrie, i colori, la vita, il lavoro. È la terra
in cui il mare lascia le sue tracce, siano esse relitti o fondali scoperti
dalla bassa marea.
In alcuni casi i mari sono osservati dal
cielo, a volo d’uccello, ancora una volta per definirne meglio il disegno che
compongono nelle intersezioni con la terra. Così come sono uccelli e non pesci
gli animali che popolano queste foto. Aria e terra, dunque, più che mare. I mari,
nelle immagini del FdM, sono quasi latenti, come le immagini esposte ma ancora
invisibili, che attendevano lo sviluppo per apparire. Un’azione o
interpretazione, anche questa, che deriva dalla storia professionale del FdM.
Che l’ha condotto dalla camera oscura al computer.
Ma allora, qual è il legame vero, più profondo
che lega il nostro fotografo contadino, con il mare, i Mari? Non è sufficiente,
a questo punto, la similitudine tra contadini e pescatori. A meno che non la si
voglia interpretare come una parabola, che nasconda una verità latente. In
questo caso il desiderio inconscio di essere marinaio e non contadino. Per un
motivo semplice, descritto da Björn Larsson in “Raccontare il mare”: “Il
vantaggio di essere marinaio, in effetti, è che la gente dà per scontato che
ripartirai. È la base stessa del mito. Il marinaio che mette radici perde
presto il suo potere di sedurre e di far sognare”. E chi conosce un po’ il FdM
sa quanto rifugga dal “mettere radici”. Il mare, invece, è il collettore delle
sue pulsioni esistenziali. “E’ la possibilità di un incontro con l’altro, con
lo straniero del posto. È poter vivere da nomadi…il mare è il luogo in cui è
possibile sperimentare altre vite, altri pensieri, altre identità, altre
passioni, insomma mettersi in gioco”. Ma c’è di più. “Si ispira al mare come
spazio dove si può essere sempre un po’ liberi di muoversi, dove le nazioni non
sono riuscite a imporre ovunque le loro frontiere, un luogo dove si vede
lontano, dove si può sempre sognare quel che si nasconde oltre l’orizzonte”.
Non è un caso che proprio alle ultime frontiere, il FdM abbia dedicato un’altra
raccolta d’immagini: “The Last Frontiers. A Journey Through the Borders of
Humanity”, dove racconta quarant’anni di lavoro ispirato, almeno all’inizio, da
un mondo ricco di diversità etniche e culturali.
Allora
tanto vale concludere questa introduzione con un incipit. “Qualche anno fa –
non importa quanto di preciso - pensai di viaggiare un po’ per mare e di vedere
la parte acquatica del mondo. È il mio modo di combattere la malinconia e di
controllare la circolazione”. Ho omesso
le prime due parole, le più famose, quelle che fanno immediatamente riconoscere
“Moby Dick”: “Chiamatemi Ismaele”. Ma solo perché volevo farla mia. E del Fotografo di
Mari, ovviamente.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
OLD VIETNAM prints gallery
SVV24VF789
Mountains near Dalat
Taken mostly in 1994, during the first trip to a recently opened to visitors Vietnam, the moody images shows a country still bounded to traditional living and backward atmospheres.
A lot has changed in Vietnam since then, but this mood is still embedded in popular imagination.
The fine art 2016 edition has a 5 copies run for the 42x63cm size (or 42x111cm) on
Epson Cold Press Natural paper, respecting the Digigraphie standards.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
(Standard print is also available)
Friday, January 24, 2020
MARI: the book has a new edition with 48 fine art photos
MARI
has a new edition and new layout
Available in paperback on Amazon
Also available on Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle and Google Play
The 48 fine art photos catalogue for the show MARI (Seas) in an elegant
gallery of images from around the world. You can preview them on out Fine Art website at this link.
English and Italian Texts
AIR ASIA book, the complete Fine Art photos gallery
AIR ASIA
an essay by Massimo Morello
with a fine art photo gallery by Andrea Pistolesi
is the new book published by PadPlaces
The book introduction:
It’s hard
to understand Asia. Glimpses of it can be gained by giving in to the sensations
it arouses, without trying too hard to find an explanation. Like meditation,
following the flow of the breath. This is still a place of hidden, if not
invisible, presences that can rise up or be generated by the breath of wind, or
dissolve the thoughts you had in your mind like wisps of cloud vanishing on the
breeze. In that instant, sensations and intuitions often take the shape of a
symbol. After all, Asia is the world of symbols, the empire of signs, and they
can at times be the magical formula for beginning to understand it. Air Asia is
the definition, the title for one of those symbols: the fan. That airflow,
which causes strange and unpredictable effects, can carry stories, like the
incense smoke in a temple that forms evocative shapes in the air as it rises.
Air Asia came into being this way, by observing the thoughts and stories
brought on by a breath of air in hot Southeast Asia. Someone once wrote: “The
breath of Asia is beyond”
Available on Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle and Google Play
Also available in paperback on Amazon
English and Italian Editions
SAINT BASIL'S CATHEDRAL, part of the iMOSCOW gallery
ENM29LZ0192
Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow
The image was shoot digitally in 2009
This print is part of the iMoscow gallery on the Fine Art website.
The fine art 2020 edition has a 5 copies run for the 42x42cm size on Epson Cold Press Natural paper, respecting the Digigraphie standards.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
Friday, January 17, 2020
THE JADE EMPEROR PAGODA part of the AIR ASIA Gallery (2009)
SVS29LF0094
The Jade Emperor Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
The image was shoot digitally in 2009
This print is part of the AIR ASIA gallery on the Fine Art website.
The fine art 2020 edition has a 5 copies run for the 42x63cm size on Epson Cold Press Natural paper, respecting the Digigraphie standards.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
Monday, April 16, 2018
MARI show prints: ATLANTIC COAST IN PORTUGAL (2016)
APP36TF2048
Monte Clerigo village on the Atlantic coast of Portugal
The image was shoot digitally in 2016
This print is part of the MARI gallery on the Fine Art website.
The
fine art 2018 edition has a 5 copies run for the 42x63cm size on Epson
Cold Press Natural paper, respecting the Digigraphie standards.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
MARI show prints: ESSAOUIRA in MOROCCO (2010)
BMM27HF3383
Cleaning fish outside the Essaouira walls in Morocco
The image was shoot digitally in 2010.
This print is part of the MARI gallery on the Fine Art website.
The
fine art 2018 edition has a 5 copies run for the 42x63cm size on Epson
Cold Press Natural paper, respecting the Digigraphie standards.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
As all of the other prints it comes signed with it's authenticity certificate.
(Standard print is also available)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)