For some time now, we have been living in a strange era in which many of the parameters we were used to in the rich countries of the West have been abruptly called into question.
We took them for granted, we took them for definitive, whereas they were only recent acquisitions, and now, with the pandemic, global warming and war, they are being questioned again.
Above all, in our minds, these events in which we are both spectators and extras produce subtle changes in the way we look at things and priorities.
With the images I present here, I would like to focus on an aspect such as the progressive evanescence of the concept of ‘travelling for one’s own pleasure’, which is certainly secondary to today’s much more dramatic situations.
From the glories of the Grand Tour of the 17th and 18th centuries to the nebulias of mass tourism at the beginning of the 21st century, more and more people have taken to travelling for their own pleasure, without seeing too much of the tragedy of those who were and still are forced to move out of necessity or compulsion; today, however, between pandemics and war, we are rapidly losing that predisposition for easy movement.
It’s a sign of the times ahead, and I like to render it with these images in a light and allusive way, hinting only at the loss, and at the drama of things today.
