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The Garden: Alessandro Imbriaco photographs one family's exile to Eden The Garden: Alessandro Imbriaco photographs one family's exile to Eden
(7 months later)
The American radical thinker Hakim Bey coined the term "temporary autonomous zones" in the 80s to describe the often illegal makeshift communities that were being created in cities and remote rural areas by squatters, travellers and the various alternative communities living outside society's norms. The term now also applies to the many illegal urban communities – made up mostly of migrant workers and their families – that have sprung up in European cities over the past decade or so. Many have become semi-permanent settlements, existing almost invisibly on the edges of mainstream society.The American radical thinker Hakim Bey coined the term "temporary autonomous zones" in the 80s to describe the often illegal makeshift communities that were being created in cities and remote rural areas by squatters, travellers and the various alternative communities living outside society's norms. The term now also applies to the many illegal urban communities – made up mostly of migrant workers and their families – that have sprung up in European cities over the past decade or so. Many have become semi-permanent settlements, existing almost invisibly on the edges of mainstream society.
The Italian photographer Alessandro Imbriaco borrowed the title Temporary Autonomous Zones for his five-year project about migrant communities scattered along the outskirts of Rome. Back then, he photographed these precarious places in a classic documentary style influenced by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange's stark images of the Great Depression in 30s America.The Italian photographer Alessandro Imbriaco borrowed the title Temporary Autonomous Zones for his five-year project about migrant communities scattered along the outskirts of Rome. Back then, he photographed these precarious places in a classic documentary style influenced by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange's stark images of the Great Depression in 30s America.
Then, something happened almost by accident that shifted his style. Driving along a main road out of Rome, Imbriaco noticed a stretch of wasteland that looked like a swamp and, amid the trees, a makeshift wooden building. Intrigued, he went to investigate and bumped into a man from Sicily named Piero, who was living there with his family. So began an extraordinary journey, which led to The Garden, a strangely beautiful book about survival and belonging, exile and human resourcefulness.Then, something happened almost by accident that shifted his style. Driving along a main road out of Rome, Imbriaco noticed a stretch of wasteland that looked like a swamp and, amid the trees, a makeshift wooden building. Intrigued, he went to investigate and bumped into a man from Sicily named Piero, who was living there with his family. So began an extraordinary journey, which led to The Garden, a strangely beautiful book about survival and belonging, exile and human resourcefulness.
The Garden foregoes a straight documentary style for an atmospheric one in which the sense of place is almost magical, even mythical. It is a dark book only in its use of colour – often you have to look hard to spy the human figures in the woods. Given that Piero, his partner Lupa and their young daughter Angela live a life of hardship and marginalisation, the tightrope Imbriaco walks – between representing their way of life and idealising it – is a tricky one. He has said that he "wanted to put something of the feeling of Piero and the swamp into the story, something connected to me and my emotional response to the place".The Garden foregoes a straight documentary style for an atmospheric one in which the sense of place is almost magical, even mythical. It is a dark book only in its use of colour – often you have to look hard to spy the human figures in the woods. Given that Piero, his partner Lupa and their young daughter Angela live a life of hardship and marginalisation, the tightrope Imbriaco walks – between representing their way of life and idealising it – is a tricky one. He has said that he "wanted to put something of the feeling of Piero and the swamp into the story, something connected to me and my emotional response to the place".
It seems both Piero and Imbriaco are romantics at heart: the swamp becomes "the garden", the woods a shelter from the city that surrounds them; the child is a free spirit wandering though a leafy eden. The struggles and defeats that brought Piero and Lupa to this place are not alluded to, nor is there much evidence of the cold and damp, or the lack of home comforts that go hand in hand with life at poverty level. Instead, the emphasis is on their close-knit family life and their self-made home in this strange hinterland.It seems both Piero and Imbriaco are romantics at heart: the swamp becomes "the garden", the woods a shelter from the city that surrounds them; the child is a free spirit wandering though a leafy eden. The struggles and defeats that brought Piero and Lupa to this place are not alluded to, nor is there much evidence of the cold and damp, or the lack of home comforts that go hand in hand with life at poverty level. Instead, the emphasis is on their close-knit family life and their self-made home in this strange hinterland.
By jettisoning his usual documentary style for one that draws unabashedly on the Romantic tradition, Imbriaco challenges our preconceptions about this exiled family and their surroundings. He highlights the dignity, and great beauty, of such an uncertain existence. Angela undoubtedly has a closeness to nature that most children no longer experience. "(She) grew up like a child of 60 years ago," notes Imbracio. "For this reason, she is very strong." Revealingly, though, while Piero and Angela seem comfortable with the photographer's presence, Lupa shies away from his camera. There is only one portrait of her in the book, surrounded by foliage as if trying to disappear into the woods.By jettisoning his usual documentary style for one that draws unabashedly on the Romantic tradition, Imbriaco challenges our preconceptions about this exiled family and their surroundings. He highlights the dignity, and great beauty, of such an uncertain existence. Angela undoubtedly has a closeness to nature that most children no longer experience. "(She) grew up like a child of 60 years ago," notes Imbracio. "For this reason, she is very strong." Revealingly, though, while Piero and Angela seem comfortable with the photographer's presence, Lupa shies away from his camera. There is only one portrait of her in the book, surrounded by foliage as if trying to disappear into the woods.
The Garden won the European Publisher's award for photography last year; it's not hard to see why. Taken in late-afternoon natural light, the photographs exude an otherworldly atmosphere that reflects the family's self-contained, and occasionally magical, existence on the literal and metaphorical edge of a modern European city. They possess a quiet, cumulative power that attests to Imbriaco's intimacy with his subjects and his admiration for their undoubted resilience.The Garden won the European Publisher's award for photography last year; it's not hard to see why. Taken in late-afternoon natural light, the photographs exude an otherworldly atmosphere that reflects the family's self-contained, and occasionally magical, existence on the literal and metaphorical edge of a modern European city. They possess a quiet, cumulative power that attests to Imbriaco's intimacy with his subjects and his admiration for their undoubted resilience.
It is a way of life that has since come to an end. Lupa and Angela now live in a shelter for women and children in the city so that Angela can attend school, as is legally required by the state. An outsider by temperament, Piero now lives in the swamp – his garden – alone.It is a way of life that has since come to an end. Lupa and Angela now live in a shelter for women and children in the city so that Angela can attend school, as is legally required by the state. An outsider by temperament, Piero now lives in the swamp – his garden – alone.
Now see thisNow see this
As part of a bigger exhibition devoted to Black Country legends, the Public in West Bromwich is showing Richard Billingham's classic 90s series Ray's a Laugh. It features "snapshots" of Billingham's alcoholic father – the Ray of the title – as well as his feisty, obese, jigsaw puzzle-obsessed mother. An insider's glimpse of an epically dysfunctional family, it is shot through with deep affection and tenderness. Not for the faint-hearted or easily offended, but a rare chance to see a classic series of dirty realist photographs shot from the inside out.As part of a bigger exhibition devoted to Black Country legends, the Public in West Bromwich is showing Richard Billingham's classic 90s series Ray's a Laugh. It features "snapshots" of Billingham's alcoholic father – the Ray of the title – as well as his feisty, obese, jigsaw puzzle-obsessed mother. An insider's glimpse of an epically dysfunctional family, it is shot through with deep affection and tenderness. Not for the faint-hearted or easily offended, but a rare chance to see a classic series of dirty realist photographs shot from the inside out.
At Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Borderliners offers a chance to see another more recent dirty-realist series: Rimaldas Viksraitis's Grimaces of the Weary Village, which is being shown alongside an older series, Rural Markets (1969-1987) by fellow Lithuanian photographer Aleksandras Macijauskas. The unifying theme is the post-Soviet decline of rural village communities in Lithuania. In a related event, both artists will be talking about their work on 16 February.At Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Borderliners offers a chance to see another more recent dirty-realist series: Rimaldas Viksraitis's Grimaces of the Weary Village, which is being shown alongside an older series, Rural Markets (1969-1987) by fellow Lithuanian photographer Aleksandras Macijauskas. The unifying theme is the post-Soviet decline of rural village communities in Lithuania. In a related event, both artists will be talking about their work on 16 February.
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