with Stefano De Luigi
September 8 – 24, 2017
Savignano Immagini Festival
Savignano sul Rubicone, Italy
Stefano De Luigi’s iDyssey will be on view at Savignano Immagini Festival in Savignano sul Rubicone, Italy from September 8 – 28, 2017.
About iDyssey:
"I’ve always wanted to combine my love for photography and literature into one journey.
When I was a small boy, my mother read the ancient myths to me as bedtime stories. Opening the door to my imagination, these tales of passion, adventure, struggle, victory and the impact of vengeful, whimsical gods at odds with man’s destiny, fuelled my young mind. Once the lights were out I dreamed of Achilles, Athena, Paris, Hector, the Cyclops, Centaurs, The Great Wall of Troy and of course Ulysses, the most intriguing hero of them all from that vast pantheon of classical legends.
The Odyssey has been handed down in many ways, first orally then gaining a huge audience through the written word with Homer’s epic poem. The story has been filmed multiple times and under many guises and when I was a teenager I was yet again transfixed by a beautifully enacted and filmed TV version. I reconnected with the story at high school studying latin and literature when looking at the Classical statues in the museums of my hometown, Rome
The thread that ties me to this masterpiece is very long. As a tribute, and with thousands of images in my head, I took up the challenge of retelling the Odyssey, one of the most ancient examples of cultural heritage, through the most current of communication vehicles, the smartphone.
I photographed the project using the Hipstamatic app on two iPhones (hence the title iDyssey). I chose twelve sites crucial to the story and retraced the steps of my hero Ulysses.
This is a contemporary odyssey that also serves as an investigation into the Mediterranean identity. So many events are happening around this Sea’s coastlines from the Tunisian revolution and the Arab Spring to the battle between secularism and orthodoxy in Turkey and the migrant crisis and economic disaster in Greece that has cut the breath from all Europe
This is a contemporary odyssey discovering places hitherto stored in my imagination, in search of the voices of those ancient heroes, the sound of living statues, places filled with harmonious beauty but equally filled with absolute horror.
Princess Europa, daughter of King Agenor of Tyre and mother of Minos of Crete.
This is my journey. This is what the photos in this book are about: A trip through a wonderful childhood dream. Where I come from: Europa: Utopia."
