Italian People's Beaches Spiagge popolari italiane
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August 2010
This photographic journal attempts to explore the very different ways in which we, as Italians, conduct ourselves on our beaches; what we do, how we eat, how we treat each other. It describes a space that manages to be both intimate and public at the same time. This is a social space that exhibits strong contrasts; beaches that are places of quiet, of rest, of entertainment but also of solitude. The average Italian holidaymaker can rarely afford the posh Riveras known internationally and instead we tend to congregate in an environment that is cheap, animated and open to all. From south to north, from refined old ladies, athletic young men and a few resourceful foreigners, this is a journey across Italy that casts an ironic eye on the beaches and the characters that inhabit them. Those who are there to relax, escape, control or indeed gorge. There are those who are there to sell and those who cannot stop buying. Those there to meet old friends, to train, to dance, to work, to show off, to dress up or to sit by themselves. There are even those sunbathers who dose off thinking about their loans and those who are there to catch some rays as they while away the time waiting for their heart operations. This is a side of humanity that makes me smile and laugh and though I can feel distant from it, I cannot deny I share something with it. There is after all something that is distinctly Italian within this cultural melting pot; something that rests somewhere between our traditional hospitality and our ignorant mistrust of the unknown.
Agosto 2010
“Italian people's beaches” e’ un’indagine sulle nostre abitudini comportamentali, culinarie, relazionali nello spazio intimo ma collettivo e voyeuristico della spiaggia pubblica italiana, territorio di incontro e socialita’ che si tinge di forti contrasti. La spiaggia rimane uno spazio di quiete, riposo, divertimento, ma anche di fatiche ed emarginazione. L’italia vacanziera non ha soltanto mete balneari esclusive ed elitarie: la villeggiatura e il riposo degli italiani spesso si dirige verso localita’ marine cheap, animate, popolari, accessibili, alla portata di tutti. Da sud a nord, tra anziane curate signore, giovani vigorosi e alcuni migranti intraprendenti, un viaggio in Italia attraverso uno sguardo ironico sulle spiagge e su chi le abita. C’e’ chi si rilassa, chi evade, chi si sollazza, chi controlla, chi stramangia, chi vende e chi non smette di comprare, chi si allena, chi incontra vecchi amici, chi balla, chi si apparta, chi si mette in mostra, chi si traveste e chi lavora, chi smette di pensare al mutuo da pagare e ci dorme su, chi aspetta un'operazione al cuore ma nel frattempo prende il sole. Un’umanita’ alla quale sorrido, con la quale scherzo, dalla quale a tratti mi discosto ma che a volte condivido; una pennellata di italianitudine che muove i primi passi con l’integrazione e la fusione tra le culture, in bilico tra la tradizionale sanguigna ospitalita’ e la diffidenza sospettosa dell’ignoranza. |
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 Rimini, IT. August 2010Rimini, IT. Agosto 2010
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