“MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE”

In this piece two different types of “photographic finds” merge together: the image of the arrival of a boat with clandestine immigrants in Lampedusa and the image of a summery beach in Sicily after a storm.  I refer to “photographic finds” as both images belong not to those things which one searches for but ibelong instead to those things which one finds, at times repeatedly, in front of one’s eyes.  They belong to that which the sea takes and at times gives back.

There are those who go seeking for fortune in the “land of gold” as seen on postcards in the beginning of the century in Italy representing the american dreamland, The New World.  A world where everything was larger, ranging from oversized fruit hanging on trees to oversized eggs coming from hens.  Enticing one to go forth and journey to… the realization upon arrival that fat hens are not for all and that the “New World” doesn’t exist.  What does exist are borders which signal the chasm… almost as large as the sea which has just been crossed.

What remains are desires, like an S.O.S., shut tightly within glass bottles, thrown into the water and left there to float.

A song by the Police comes to mind, one which I listened to as a girl: “Message in a Bottle” a song written in a time when Italy was not yet considered a land to journey to in search for a New World.

So go the lyrics:

Just a castaway
An island lost at sea
Another lonely day
No-one here but me
More loneliness
Than any man could bear
Rescue me before I fall into despair

I’ll send an sos to the world
I’ll send an sos to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

A year has passed since I wrote my note
But I should have known this right from the start
Only hope can keep me togetherv Love can mend your life
But love can break your heart

I’ll send an sos to the world
I’ll send an sos to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

Walked out this morning
Don’t believe what I saw
A hundred billion bottles
Washed up on the shore
Seems I’m not alone in being alone
A hundred billion castaways
Looking for a home

I’ll send an sos to the world
I’ll send an sos to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

Sending out an sos

tecniche e materiali: stampa dimensioni 42x 31.5cm

Anno: 2012