Open Eyes on the World
A photograph can effectively and instantly convey a sense of distant places, at uncharted latitudes. And when the talent of a great photographer is combined with that of a great traveller and narrator such as Fosco Maraini, the outcome can be quite a surprise. We can see this in “The fishermen’s island”, an article written by Maraini in 1956 for Pirelli magazine. A distinguished orientalist, the author reveals the secrets of the Ama female pearl-divers on Ekura island in Japan who plunge down to the seabed to collect precious awabi molluscs. While the text shows the workings of an inquisitive mind, the photos taken by Maraini at the O Bon festival are inspired by oriental sacredness. Giulia Ferlito sought out other enchanting spots and other islands, though closer to home, in the Aegean, when in 1958 she spent three weeks sailing from Piraeus to Chalkidiki, Patmos, and Rhodes. One island each day, in a riot of white houses and blue domes, windmills, storks on roofs, and sails billowing out in the Meltemi wind. Giulia Ferlito, whose acquired surname was Pirelli, also created a splendid photo shoot in 1965 in Kenya with stunning black-and-white photos of the Masai. In the magazine we see the Samburu women with their metal rings and the cheetah in the Amboseli reserve. More islands: Homer’s “island of the lotus-eaters” – Djerba, Tunisia – stars in the photographs by Marianne Adelmann accompanying an article by Tijani Zalila in 1966. The island is “an oasis that floats on the sea”, and the domes of the mosques carve out pure geometries against the blue sky. And then, of course, there is Fulvio Roiter, who immortalised the colourful houses of the Pelourinho in Salvador de Bahia in “Oba Brasil” in 1963, and the landscapes of “old Europe” in an article entitled “Elusive Bruges”, written in 1968 by Paul van del Bosch. These continued all the way to a masterpiece of colour, ranging from purple to white and orange, of Madeira in “On a man’s back”, penned by Suzanne Chantal in 1969. A world of visions by visionary masters.
A photograph can effectively and instantly convey a sense of distant places, at uncharted latitudes. And when the talent of a great photographer is combined with that of a great traveller and narrator such as Fosco Maraini, the outcome can be quite a surprise. We can see this in “The fishermen’s island”, an article written by Maraini in 1956 for Pirelli magazine. A distinguished orientalist, the author reveals the secrets of the Ama female pearl-divers on Ekura island in Japan who plunge down to the seabed to collect precious awabi molluscs. While the text shows the workings of an inquisitive mind, the photos taken by Maraini at the O Bon festival are inspired by oriental sacredness. Giulia Ferlito sought out other enchanting spots and other islands, though closer to home, in the Aegean, when in 1958 she spent three weeks sailing from Piraeus to Chalkidiki, Patmos, and Rhodes. One island each day, in a riot of white houses and blue domes, windmills, storks on roofs, and sails billowing out in the Meltemi wind. Giulia Ferlito, whose acquired surname was Pirelli, also created a splendid photo shoot in 1965 in Kenya with stunning black-and-white photos of the Masai. In the magazine we see the Samburu women with their metal rings and the cheetah in the Amboseli reserve. More islands: Homer’s “island of the lotus-eaters” – Djerba, Tunisia – stars in the photographs by Marianne Adelmann accompanying an article by Tijani Zalila in 1966. The island is “an oasis that floats on the sea”, and the domes of the mosques carve out pure geometries against the blue sky. And then, of course, there is Fulvio Roiter, who immortalised the colourful houses of the Pelourinho in Salvador de Bahia in “Oba Brasil” in 1963, and the landscapes of “old Europe” in an article entitled “Elusive Bruges”, written in 1968 by Paul van del Bosch. These continued all the way to a masterpiece of colour, ranging from purple to white and orange, of Madeira in “On a man’s back”, penned by Suzanne Chantal in 1969. A world of visions by visionary masters.
