“The act of photography is like going on a hunt in which photographer and camera merge into one indivisible function. This is a hunt for new states of things, situations never seen before, for the improbable, for information” (Flusser)
The leaning tower of Pisa, as iconically Italian as the Eiffel Tower is Parisian.
However given Italys recent shift to closing its ports to rescued refugees and a rhetoric not heard since the 1930’s I was looking for a suitable metaphor when I happened upon this security gate, actually from the financial district NYC which feels apt given the US’s recent conversion to isolatioism but it could be from anywhere.
Ugly but purposeful, tone deaf, hopelessly inappropriate and be-spoiling but effective if the viewer is blind to its sheer ugliness.
My initial starting point was with this version where I combined some construction work in progress at Nice Airport with the New York security wall, I quite liked it had zero geographical identity, it could be anywhere, a true non place.
Below are the constituent donor images.
References: Flusser, Vilem (2000) “Towards a philosophy of photography”, Reaktion Books