Archipelago (2014 - 2019)
“Jung emphasizes that in any myth of rebirth, the scrap heap outside the city walls contains the possibilities for a society’s future survival” (Stephenson, 2015).
Archipelago is a journey through metaphorical islands in the shape of eco-communities, separated by a sea of consumption and individualism. A gradual discovery enriched by serendipitous encounters that led towards hidden and diverse micro-realities, a series of five communities explored chronologically between 2014 and 2019 in England, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Each community is a world on its own, with its own reasons of existence. Some communities have an underlying political scope, others believe that the current paradigm can be overcome through the liberation of eros and sexuality, while some others dedicate much attention to spirituality and the mastering of its practices. Yet there are some core features that allowed me the mapping of such imaginary archipelago, as they all aim for a restoration of a balanced relation with nature, be embedded in it, they want to create together, and they all reject the perversions of capitalistic democracies and their excessive consumption and subsequent alienation.
What started as a research on self-isolated groups, organically evolved into a study on Utopianism and the infinite chase of it. The study and depiction of different themes such as spirituality, sexuality and cooperation with nature, were interwoven into a fragmented vision of Utopianism, blending these into a visionary web of micro-societies.
The project tries to detach itself from the tradition of documentary photography, adopting a variety of visual languages that could highlight the nature and diversities of the represented communities. The surrealist and dreamy aesthetics, favored by mise-en-scene and cooperation with subjects but also the use of different photographic apparatus was a conscientious endeavour to transcend the work from mere representation into a realm of fiction and imagination.
︎ Full Images
︎Thumbnails
“Jung emphasizes that in any myth of rebirth, the scrap heap outside the city walls contains the possibilities for a society’s future survival” (Stephenson, 2015).
Archipelago is a journey through metaphorical islands in the shape of eco-communities, separated by a sea of consumption and individualism. A gradual discovery enriched by serendipitous encounters that led towards hidden and diverse micro-realities, a series of five communities explored chronologically between 2014 and 2019 in England, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Each community is a world on its own, with its own reasons of existence. Some communities have an underlying political scope, others believe that the current paradigm can be overcome through the liberation of eros and sexuality, while some others dedicate much attention to spirituality and the mastering of its practices. Yet there are some core features that allowed me the mapping of such imaginary archipelago, as they all aim for a restoration of a balanced relation with nature, be embedded in it, they want to create together, and they all reject the perversions of capitalistic democracies and their excessive consumption and subsequent alienation.
What started as a research on self-isolated groups, organically evolved into a study on Utopianism and the infinite chase of it. The study and depiction of different themes such as spirituality, sexuality and cooperation with nature, were interwoven into a fragmented vision of Utopianism, blending these into a visionary web of micro-societies.
The project tries to detach itself from the tradition of documentary photography, adopting a variety of visual languages that could highlight the nature and diversities of the represented communities. The surrealist and dreamy aesthetics, favored by mise-en-scene and cooperation with subjects but also the use of different photographic apparatus was a conscientious endeavour to transcend the work from mere representation into a realm of fiction and imagination.
︎ Full Images
︎Thumbnails
