YET magazine issue 02 by YET Magazine

Issue N째 02 Thomas Albdorf Hugo Deniau Kathryn Friedman Ikuru Kuwagima Sean Lee Giulia Magnani Nicola Mazzuia Giorgio Di Noto Giovanni Presutti Ellen Rogers Jessica Tremp

21 april 2013

From the series Former Writer by Thomas Albdorf

From the series the Garden by Sean Lee

p. 02

Imprint / Comment & notes

PUBLISHER Yet magazine, Via A la Camana 6827 Brusino Arsizio Switzerland T +41 (0) 78 838 25 17 info@yet-magazine.com www. yet-magazine.com YET MAGAZINE #02 Editor-in-chief Salvatore Vitale Managing Editor Ilaria Crosta Art direction Nicolas Polli Graphic design Nicolas Polli Translation Francesca Wilkins Web designer Davide Morotti Editorial Staff Margherita Cascio Giulia Giani Massimiliano Rossetto Francesca Wilkins INSIDE ISSUE 02 Cover pictures Thomas Albdorf Sean Lee Back cover pictures Ikuru Kuwagima Contributors Thomas Albdorf Hugo Deniau Katie Friedman Ikuru Kuwagima Sean Lee Giulia Magnani Nicola Mazzuia Giorgio di Noto Giovanni Presutti Ellen Rogers Jessica Tremp Cinzia Puggioni Gabriel Bauret COPYRIGHT Yet Magazine, A la Camana, 2012 All rights reserved.

On the 21st of December 2012 the end was declared, a hecatomb decreed by the Mayan calendar, which had the power to bring down an era which we define “of communication”. That same day, by involuntary circumstances, a small beginning took place, and YET was born in the middle of this communicative chaos. As we hereby announce, the idea which led us to embark on this journey springs – as often happens – from an urge which is highlighted by the editorial choices that have been made so far. The ideas which revolve around YET often clash with the ideas which would normally distinguish photography magazines. This is not in order to create avantgardism, nor to take a critical stance. On the contrary, we love the editorial world, particularly that which revolves around photogra-

The publisher assumes no responsability for the accurancy of all the information. Publisher and editor assume the material that material that was made available for publishing, is free of third party rights. Reproduction and storage require the permission of the publisher. Photos and texts are welcome, but there is no liability. Signed contributions do not necessarily represent the opinion of the publisher or the editor.

No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. All reasonable efforts have been made to identify and contact copyright holders, but in some cases these could not be traced.

Comment & Notes

phy magazines. Our position is that of photographers who understand photography, and who want to understand it even better, through the work of other artists – well established or not who first of all wish to share their work with us. Because of this, we don’t like to make a distinction between genres or mediums, and we avoid creating discussions around provenience, social background, career paths, etc. What matters is the photography, the imagery. After this digression, let’s come to the present. Four months after the eluded end of the world, this issue - our second - is released, accompanied by a little revolution. We’ve added transversal contents, which focus on photography but explore certain aspects of it in further depth. And so, we present to you a piece of journalism, a review on an exhibition which was worth seeing, we’ll tell you the story of an editorial project – as ambitious as it is interesting, and we’ll create a visual journey which flows into a transformation… or metamorphosis, as we choose to define it. A metamorphosis which, in its evolutionary sense, opens up to multiple levels of meaning and thought. Starting from this, we have expanded and shaped the content which YET aspires to offer, to stimulate the insatiable appetites of our readers. And this is only the beginning of our journey.

Salvatore Vitale

p. 03

p. 04

YET magazine

On the Other Side

The Lysergic Heart of Asia

TV Rom

by Ikuru Kuwagima

by Cinzia Puggioni

by Giulia Magnani

Editorial

Report

Editorial

From pp. 08--- 25

From pp. 26--- 27

From pp. 28--- 43

Former Writer by Thomas Albdorf

Editorial

Photography Classics: William Klein and Daido Moriyama at Tate Modern, London

From pp. 44--- 65

The Garden

Metamorphosis

by Francesca Wilkins

by Sean Lee

with Giorgio Di Noto

exhibition

Editorial

Focus On

From pp. 66--- 71

From pp. 72--- 111

From pp. 112-- 139

p. 05

Contents

Mousse

Contemporanea

Mon American Dream

by Jessica Tremp

by Giovanni Presutti

by Hugo Deniau

Editorial

From pp. 140--- 157

From pp. 158--- 183

Mondo

Midsummer

by Nicola Mazzuia

by Kathryn Friedman

Editorial

From pp. 200--- 211

From pp. 184--- 199

From pp. 212--- 221

Visitation

Project

Swiss Press Photo Award 13

by Ellen Rogers

Ground Zero

by Giulia Giani

Editorial

Project

exhibition

From pp. 222--- 247

From pp. 248--- 259

From pp. 260--- 263

p. 06

YET magazine

YET goes PRIN Towards the end of May we will be releasing a special insert in the form of a printed fold out which can be kept as a magazine, or as a poster.

p. 07

goes into INT! We will be featuring photographers exhibited in the past, together with a special selection of new artists, so make sure you order your copy!

p. 08

YET magazine

04 05 09

01 06

02 15

08 13

On the Other Side by Ikuru Kuwagima

Editorial

On the Other Side Photographs and text by Ikuru Kuwagima

www.ikurukuwajima.com

p. 09

I was planning on going to the Pamirs in Tajikistan this August. The Pamirs are a mountain range stretching across Central Asia. It’s such a beautiful place, with friendly and hospitable people. Yet now, it doesn’t seem as peaceful as it had been in recent years, to say the least. These are photographs looking onto Afghanistan, taken from the Tajik side of the mountains. The view from this side goes on and on, with rocky walls across which a narrow rugged road stretches like a thin line. It’s just on the other side of the river - narrow and shallow enough that it’s possible to find some places where you can probably just cross it on foot. But you don’t, not unless you are a trafficker or one of the locals visiting their relatives living on the other side. The river cuts the two sides apart, making them even further apart than they physically are. Only ten meters away from this side is Afghanistan, and the wild thin line on that side of the rugged valley somehow reassures my preconceived idea of what Afghanistan is, whether it’s true not. In fact, people on the other side are mostly Pamiris, like on this side. But, the decades-old border, which divided the Afghan and the Soviets, also cuts frequent communications between the two sides, politically and culturally. Yet, the recent unrest may be foreshadowing some changes in the region. Although, I really hope that things will be fine soon...

From pp. 08---25

p. 26

YET magazine

The lysergic heart of Asia

Text by Cinzia Puggioni

Translation by Francesca Wilkins

Forgotten by the world, Tajikistan forms the heart of Asia, enveloped between the two mountain ranges which surround it: to the north the Trans-Alay, and the Pamirs to the south. These mountains inhibit cultivation of any kind, but also function as a protective barrier, determining the isolation of the country from the rest of the world. Yet, the influence of external cultures has been numerous, starting with the Arab, Persian, Turkish, Mongol and Russian. The latter protected the country like a cloak, unveiling it only in 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The poverty of the population results from the lack of infrastructure suitable for the extraction of the raw materials present in the region. The minerals are furthermore guarded by the mountains: tungsten, gold, silver and uranium rest amongst the rocky slopes of the Pamirs. There is no outlet onto the sea. The only thing to sculpt the rocks is the snow, creating shadows, angles, and lights with its grey veil, and descending precipitously to the

Report

flat plains, it transpires in the sky and on the earth in patches solitary streaks blending in with the clouds. A beating heart, suffocated by the two ranges, and hybrid, between Occident and Orient. Behind the Pamir Mountains, on the Afghan side of the border, hide the Islamic rebels, isolated here following the civil war which broke out after the independence from the USSR and the ethnic cleansing. To this day, they still set off numerous incursions and conflicts, hidden amongst the mountains, chameleonic. The region in which they reside is known as Gorno-Badakhshan, and it is here that the major conflicts between the ethnic minorities of the Pamirs and the Tajik government forces were concentrated. After the most recent conflict which occurred here, in July 2012 and in which a senior officer of the Tajik army was slaughtered, the border crossings with Afghanistan were closed, leaving a solitary passage to allow the NATO forces to get their supplies straight to Kabul. Furthermore, there exists a strategic corridor which

p. 27

plays a fundamental role in the illicit traffic of Afghan opium and other goods, the lysergic corridor which supplies Western Europe and Russia. The GornoBadakhshan region, once crossed by the Silk Road, now welcomes the Pamirs, who, between silences and incursions, await government recognition but threaten geopolitical disaster, with the risk of an alliance with Afghan terrorist groups, given the precarious situation in neighbouring Afghanistan. These imaginary borders mark stories, secrets and rocky prisons, amongst the snow-covered peaks of the Pamirs which dig an escape route into the sky.

p. 28

YET magazine

10 02 12 09

TV Rom by Giulia Magnani

Editorial

TV Rom Photographs and text by Giulia Magnani

www.giuliamagnani.com

p. 29

An ethnography on TV consumption within the Roma communities of Tirana.

“A democratic civilization will save itself only if it makes the language of the image into a stimulus for critical reflection — not an invitation for hypnosis”. (Umberto Eco, Can television teach?)

It is quite likely to find a television within the Roma communities of Tirana, even if it is often turned off. The Romani people usually watch television after dinner, specifically: a Spanish soap opera or the Albanian version of the popular game show Deal or no Deal (Kutia in Albania), well known in Italy as Affari tuoi and in France as À Prendre ou à Laisser. Interpersonal relationship is always the most important element of primary socialisation, but the mediated experience of different cultures blurs the lines between Roma and Gadje.

From pp. 28---43

TV Rom is the result of an ethnographic research conducted within the Roma communities of Tirana in August 2009. It has been exhibited at the FIAF Galley in Turin and at the 2009 Adriatic Mediterranean Festival.

p. 44

YET magazine

Former Writer by Thomas Albdorf

Editorial

Former Writer Photographs and text by Thomas Albdorf

www.thomasalbdorf.com

Thomas Albdorf Former Writer, Part 1: Colour on Surface. 2013 Pigment prints on baryta paper, mounted, unmounted or framed varying sizes

From pp. 44---65

p. 45

In the year 2012 my photographic practice consisted mainly of wandering though urban outskirts, seeking and finding littered and abandoned objects, and setting them up to record the scenery in a photograph. On these hikes, I often discovered paintings that resembled pieces which in my early teenage years signified my first contact with art production: graffiti-writing.

I found the desire to use spray paint again, applying a contextual shift to objects and scenarios with a painterly intervention. “Former Writer, Part 1: Colour on Surface” forms the first part of an ongoing series that integrates graffiti-related methods into my photographic and sculptural work. I investigate the relationship between pre-photographic painterly and sculptural interventions and their post-photographic digital equivalents, as well as the connection between spontaneous arrangements in public spaces to compositions staged in the studio that resemble work created outside. The first part of this series consists of pigment prints of various sizes, while the following section, which is currently in the making, will combine sculptures, drawings and prints.

p. 46

YET magazine

17 18

Former Writer by Thomas Albdorf

p. 47

05 06 19

Exhibition

p. 67

Photography Classics: William Klein & Daido Moriyama at Tate Modern, London Text by Francesca Wilkins

Last October, Tate Modern showcased in a dual-retrospective, work by American photographer and filmmaker William Klein, and Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama. Although these two artists don't appear to have a direct connection, their photography shares very similar themes and methods. Throughout their careers, both Klein and Moriyama have explored different cities and created large monochrome series, instead of choosing to focus on individual images. These photobooks, rather than representing a finished piece of art, document a journey through city life in the ever-changing world of the nineteen-sixties. William Kleinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s film Broadway by Light takes up an entire wall in the first room of the exhibition: colourful images of New York lights, flashing neon across the screen like a Broadway billboard. This collage of vivid signs, building facades and bright lights was filmed in 1958 and creates a perfect portrait of the city and everything it represented at the time, as well as drawing a certain affinity

< Moriyama Tights 2011

YET magazine

Klein, “Atom bomb sky” New York, 1955 <

with French New Wave. (The camera zips through streets at night, against a perfect backdrop of wild jazz frantically accompanying the images) Billboard signs and colourful text run across the screen, but most of the words are incomplete, illegible. (There’s an excess of information – none of it decipherable. Although this cleverly controlled chaos only shows us rapidly moving images, moving too fast to take anything in, I get a real sense of nineteen fifties New York.) The jittery jazz music, the bursts of colour and flashing lights, the sense of restlessness... I think of the Beat Generation.

Klein, “Pray, Sin, New York” 1954 <

p. 68

Photography Classics: William Klein and Daido Moriyama at Tate Modern, London

< Moriyama, Lips 2011

< Moriyama

p. 69

After having spent a few years in Paris, at the time when he returned to New York, Klein started putting together a visual diary of the city’s bold character and transformation. Day after day, he hunted the streets, gathering what he called “evidence”. The result is an impressive collection of images that together create a portrait of the city. Curious passers-by stare out at me, excited to have their picture taken. Unknown faces gaze into the camera, sometimes with a look of wonder and fascination, other times with a look of tiredness or despair, stupor or anxiety or joy... and always that sense of movement. (I can almost hear the hustle and bustle of the streets, smell the stench of the gutter, hear the laughter of children playing in dirty alleyways, I can almost feel the promise of the American Dream.) For Klein, New York is a dynamic world of black and white, in which he adopted a specific way of moving

p. 70

YET magazine

through the streets, using a wide-angle lens and facing his subjects upfront, thrusting himself into the crowds. Moriyama’s photography represents a colder, more detached approach to street photography, which often adopts a critical or provocative quality. His images capture forgotten fragments of Tokyo’s street life – mainly by night, and through predominantly dark atmospheres, presenting us with a different representation of humanity which seems to have little in common with the dynamism of Klein’s lively passersby. With voyeuristic characteristics, Moriyama’s work tends towards an investigation of both desire and disgust, in his view of city life he seeks to emphasise both the beauty and the tragedy of it. Couples run across night streets in a blur, cars speed past, upsidedown neon signs flicker in the dark. With Moriyama the actions are always ephemeral, we don't get the sense of identity that we find in Klein's work. Like fleeting memories, strangers brush by – a matter of seconds and they’ve already been forgotten. Reminiscents of the Beat generation from Klein's early work reappear in Moriyama's Hunter 1972, indirectly inspired by his reading of Kerouac's On the Road. Blurred, grainy, shaken photographs, this series portrays, in the artist's own words, "a road map of images from all over Japan through a moving car window".( A strong sense of freedom emerges in Hunter - this particular set of images feels more natural, more real, without needing to be provocative or critical.) Farewell Photography, published in that same year, again features a prominent sense of movement, but this time expressed through the photographic process itself, creating an analogy between the act of developing and the thought process. Most of these snapshots are blurred - a distorted vision of the city, like a fleeting memory, like drunken jazz haze.

Photography Classics: William Klein and Daido Moriyama at Tate Modern, London

Moriyama, Untitled (fish head) 1978

Klein, 5th Avenue New York 1955

p. 71

p. 72

YET magazine

The Garden by Sean Lee

Editorial

The Garden Photographs and text by Sean Lee

p. 73

When I woke up, I had become an ant. I trailed over my parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bodies, the stench of their rotting bodies piercing my senses. My hearth grew faint.

They are dying. www.seanleephoto.com

But a flash came. The roar of the rain was Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice.

The rain had come, and that which ought to die is now made alive.

From pp. 72---111

p. 74

YET magazine 02

The Garden by Sean Lee

p. 75

09 12

p. 112

YET magazine

Focus On

Metamorphosis

With Giorgio Di Noto and the editorial team

p. 113

p. 114

YET magazine

Metamorphosis in biology means the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages. Good examples are insects and amphibians. Life for most insects begins as a larva or nymph then progresses to the pupa stage and ends as an adult. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Metamorphosis, mutation, the fall of the status quo. It generates social revolutions, it generates changes in nature, organisms and the Universe. All is mutating because we all are living in the Panta Rei, where everything flows.â&#x20AC;? (Heraclitus)

It can take place in mythology, it can be a futuristic novel or a real organic process. Metamorphosis is a permanent feature of life (and death) which makes everything look different, in form, feature, nature, attitude. We desire it, we are afraid of it, it runs away and we always trying to catch it... we live it every single day. Every single word we say brings a metamorphosis. A mixture of genes based in several genealogical trees. We have an inner metamorphosis: we think and consider new ways to live our lives, searching for a neverending change. We want to explore this topic through images, from our minds to your eyes, in order to See its shape-shifting nature. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the point.

Metamorphosis

p. 115

be reborn

change Alter convert remodel

reshape

mutate

remake

transfigure translate

transform

transmogrify transmute transubstantiate

p. 116

YET magazine

Metamorphosis is seen as a radical change, often violent and visible to the eye. However, there are other forms of metamorphosis, less visible and even stronger still. Change is a both positive and negative status. Often the word change is seen as an evolution, or even a revolution, but this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that we can reconnect a change to a positive action, in fact, often change brings a forced involution which certainly wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t intended. These brief sentences make me reflect a lot, on one side we have the opposite of the other, and on the other side we have the characteristics which equally distinguish all types of metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is therefore something both visible and invisible, at the same time it can be something positive and negative. A strong duality, as if hidden in the word metamorphosis is the will to change and the fear of losing something. In any case, the word metamorphosis also makes one think of time. Without time there would be no transformation and therefore there would not be an evolution or an involution of the subject. Metamorphosis is a powerful concept, a small word that hides a deep meaning. Time which slowly ticks by whilst you read the word, whilst you look at two images. The form that changes and evolves in its beauty or which

Metamorphosis

p. 117

crumbles like the worst of disasters. The space which is modified, making room for new ideas and new preoccupations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Like melting ice.â&#x20AC;?

Change

Movement

Form

Space

Time

State Evolution

Involution Photographs releated to this text: 01---02

p. 118

YET magazine

Metamorphosis

p. 119

p. 120

YET magazine

Giorgio Di Noto Matrix

www.giorgiodinoto23.wix.com/site

Photographs and text by Giorgio Di Noto

Metamorphosis

“White paper, or white leather, moistened with solution of nitrate of silver, undergoes no change when kept in a dark place; but, on being exposed to the day light, it speedily changes colour, and, after passing through different shades of grey and brown, becomes at length nearly black. The alterations of colour take place more speedily in proportion as the light is more intense. In the direct beams of the sun, two or three minutes are sufficient to produce the full effect.” Thomas Wedgewood and Humphry Davy, An Account of a Method, 1802. As underlined by English scientists Wedgewood and Davy in the beginning of the nineteenth century, photography is a process of change, therefore we can consider it as the result of a metamorphosis and, translating literally from Greek, as a result of a mutation of forms: of light, of the silver halides and, in a broader sense, of reality itself - or rather, its reproduction. When I was given the theme for this issue the first thing I thought was that, speaking of metamorphosis, I couldn’t not concentrate entirely on the photographic process itself, rather than on a photo-visual representation of the theme. Analysing photography from this point of view, the passage from analogue to digital becomes a fundamental one.

p. 121

p. 122

YET magazine

3D vision: Lunch atop a Skycraper “anonymous”

Metamorphosis

Fourier anti-transform Hyères, France, 1932 “Henri Cartier Bresson”

p. 123

p. 124

YET magazine

The structure of an image is no longer made up of millions of silver halides that transform depending on the intensity of the light, but of millions of numbers and figures which are translated and interpreted by just as many softwares and algorithms. Hence, the photographic image becomes pure mathematics. This consideration is the starting point for my project. To explore this numeric nature, I have chosen amongst some of the most famous images in the history of photography (which in turn were scanned and digitally translated) and I’ve analysed them according to different processes and different algorithms, many of which have often been used in the scientific or medical field. From the application of the Fourier transform, to 3D transformation, from the different file extension conversions to the graphic representation of tones and textures of the image, I wanted to explore the structure, the skeleton of photography, as it is translated virtually. The result is a series of abstract images of the visual representation of these processes of analysis. Once this “translation”, this “metamorphosis”, was made virtual, I wanted to find a way to convert the image again, back to the ori-

Metamorphosis

ginal photograph which I began with. This final transition is not visible on a computer screen, because the conversion is carried out using natural elements, like different wavelengths of light. If on the one hand it is impossible to show this process on an online magazine, on the other hand this intermediality allows us to at least show a video, with the intention of suggesting the visual experience that the project wants to offer. Giorgio Di Noto

To see the process: www.vimeo.com/64471811

Photographs releated to this text: 03---04---05---06

p. 125

p. 126

YET magazine

Intensity map plot Invasion Prague 68 “Josef Koudelka”

Metamorphosis

Fourier transform: The kiss “Robert Doisneau”

p. 127

p. 128

YET magazine

Changing ideas can be tormenting for the soul, but often results in producing something unexpected. At the same time, change is a cure, mental hygiene and a sentimental feeling for those who practice it. To focus one’s attention everywhere, anything to avoid running the risk of fastening one’s self to the fixed point of one’s own identity - which can occasionally be conventional, but consequently sterile. To become a spinning top on a merry go round, to mutate. To modify one’s viewpoint, to contradict one’s self, is a discipline of the mind. To loose one’s self in the world and to each time embrace a different aspect of it, to not succumb to the idea of those who preach coherence and finality, and to mutate, as the word suggests, the shape of things. As soon as I finished speaking, an emptiness appeared by my side, her gaze wandered off into the distance, far away. This is Camilla, I thought, usually she only shows half of herself, then she sits down, becomes immobilized, her entire self. Dead and full of a secret life. I felt alone, she was beyond my reach. Nobody ever noticed, she would do it often and I shivered, everybody should have done so. Where was she? What was she thinking? What did she feel? But I couldn’t question her, and then she would return – where from? Where had she been? She seemed sad. She had inevitably changed in that journey. At least she had the look of those who draw conclusions.

Metamorphosis

p. 129

Photographs releated to this text:

p. 130

YET magazine

#1 Birds “Of bodies chang'd to various forms, I sing:

Ye Gods, from whom these miracles did spring, Inspire my numbers with coelestial heat; ‘Till I my long laborious work compleat: And add perpetual tenour to my rhimes, Deduc’d from Nature’s birth, to Caesar’s times.

Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball, And Heav’n’s high canopy, that covers all, One was the face of Nature; if a face: Rather a rude and indigested mass: A lifeless lump, unfashion’d, and unfram’d, Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos nam’d. “ from The Creation of the World, Metamorphoses, Ovid, 1 A.C.E.

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Man who becomes a flying bird / The neverending dream to fly. The concept of metamorphosis plays on several levels. It is in the picture itself, but I felt the need to apply it to the editing process as well. The feather on top of the prints gives them a new tactile feeling, transforming the print itself into a new object with a new perspective and dimension.

Metamorphosis

Photographs releated to this text: 08---09---10---11---12

p. 131

p. 132

YET magazine

Metamorphosis

p. 133

p. 134

YET magazine

Metamorphosis

p. 135

p. 136

YET magazine

Metamorphosis: the term derives from the Greek word metamorposis, from meta (change) and morphe (form). Literally then, it means “change of form”. In fact, metamorphosis is the passage from one form – or shape – to another, the transformation into a different state, the transfiguration of an object changing its own nature. This series of self portraits is created with the intention of seeking a harmony which can exist between the human body and the boundaries of a determined place, and to recreate it through photography. I let my body immerge itself in the space, taking multiple forms and engaging with it. People tend to mutate throughout the course of their lifetimes. They change in aspect and in character. This type of change accompanies us all and happens to all natural organisms. In this project of mine my research for a relationship with nature is guided by my senses, which tend to impose themselves to create a contact with the environment. Nature in this case has made me feel a sense of belonging, in a place in which I don’t feel like an outsider, but like the missing piece of an incomplete structure. My presence in these places becomes fixed, my body changes, mutates, becomes an element in a totally new context. What I was interested in conveying is the harmony which the human being can recieve from nature and vice verca. In these places I found tranquility and,

Metamorphosis

p. 137

for once, the world seemed to be exclusively restricted to a limited space, familiar and close to my feelings. I think that thanks to the photographs in Metamorphosis, I have been able to bring into light this delicate relationsip, which is often neglected. The nature of the human being.

Photographs releated to this text: 13---14---15

p. 138

YET magazine

Metamorphosis

p. 139

p. 140

YET magazine

MOUSSE by Jessica Tremp

Editorial

Mousse Photographs and text by Jessica Tremp

www.jessicatremp.com

p. 141

This is one of my most intimate series from the past twelve months. These images are of my husband, Michael: a kind and wonderful man and amazing musician. The past year has been a significant one for us, for many reasons. Sometimes we feel as though the outside world is weighing down on our shoulders, and to come home and step through the front door is always a beautiful relief.

Mousse represents the feeling of being able to hide away from the world, in a peaceful and loving environment. Here, we feel safe and enveloped in the love we share for one another, for our son and for Soda, our greyhound. One of the most intimate spaces of a house tends to be the bathroom, so I thought it would only be appropriate to make it the backdrop for these portraits.

From pp. 140---157

p. 142

YET magazine

10 11

Mousse by Jessica Tremp

p. 143

01 02

12 04

p. 158

YET magazine

www.giovannipresutti.com

Contemporanea Photographs by Giovanni Presutti Text by Gabriel Bauret 05

Taken from the book Contemporanea

Contemporanea by Giovanni Presutti

Editorial

Contemporary architecture has always been important to Giovanni Presutti. Whatever forays he may make into social documentary, or into the human body as an art form, his particular passion is contemporary design. Nothing matters more to him than this, says Presutti, not even architecture itself. Stark, modern shapes and materials give his photographs a futuristic feel which almost makes you forget you are looking at architecture. Hardly any of the images in this collection give any clue as to a building’s function. For Presutti, the appeal of a building lies essentially in its exterior appearance – which you could argue coincides with current trends in architecture, or at least the popular conception of modern architecture as a triumph of form over function. One senses that today’s architects see themselves more as artists, than master builders, putting aesthetic signature before usability. Likewise, in these images, where lines, surfaces and materials (mainly glass and steel) are composed for maximum visual effect, it would be hard to tell, without the caption, what kind of building was being featured. In any case, the objective here From pp. 158---183

p. 159

is not to create a photographic catalogue of buildings – unless by catalogue we mean a collection of work based on essentially aesthetic criteria. Some of the images look uncannily like contemporary works of art in their own right. Art and architecture have always reflected one another, and this book is a clear example of the relationship between the two. Presutti sees contemporary architecture as a limitless vocabulary of shapes and materials and explores these possibilities in meticulous detail. Compared to historical architectural practice, the alternatives available today are bolder and more brilliant than ever, providing raw material for countless geometric compositions. Geometry certainly seems to determine the choice of image format, whether it is defined by the square of the camera’s viewfinder, or composed as a panorama. The book’s layout creates an intriguing dialogue between one format and another. The key element is the composition of the shot, often showing a piece of the whole and, only very occasionally, an overall view. And unlike other contemporary photographers,

p. 160

YET magazine

Presutti never shows the setting of his buildings. Some shots show what is unmistakably the work of a particular architect, but many flirt with abstraction, sometimes presenting architectural details in a manner that appears as though taken straight out of science fiction. The key to Presutti’s approach is without doubt the constant variation of the distance between the architectural object and the camera. He alternates between wide-angle and close-up perspectives, switching from glimpses of a building’s overall design and structure, to detailed shots that focus on the materials. In one instance he draws right back, in another he closes in on the detail. He uses extreme camera angles to look upwards at the object, or down from above. Although Presutti works in colour, the images sometimes appear monochrome, reduced to a subtle play of black and white nuances. It is this constant variation, in working distance and camera angle, which accounts for the richness of the visual experience. But if variation suggests chance, think again: the aesthetic impetus is always cohesive and sure-footed. A desaturation effect, for instance, is never employed at the expense of tonal integrity.

But there’s more here than pure photography. While this may not be “documentary” in the strict sense of the word, it is, all the same, an adroit articulation of architecture today. Presutti may exploit architectural design for purely creative purposes, but some of its essence still shines through in his images. You can see this work as part of a creative continuum that dates back to the inter-war period, drawing unwitting inspiration from the new artistic awareness that marked a turning point in photographic history at that time. The making of the modern world sparked innovation on every level, fostering a creativity that went far beyond the traditional genres of painting (landscapes, nudes and still-life). Part of this awareness was a new vision of photography, which flourished in Germany, and in Russia where the rise of formalism – in painting and photography alike – went hand in hand with Social-industrial progress. In France, the allure of technology in art was epitomised by a ground-breaking collaborative project focused on the famous transfer bridge in Marseille (now long since demolished). The bridge was an aerial ferry, stretching high above the traffic of the port – an engineering tour de force that prompted radical experimenta-

Contemporanea by Giovanni Presutti

tion in photography by artists such as László Moholy-Nagy, to name but one. A teacher at the famous Bauhaus, Moholy- Nagy was one of the most influential theorists of a new photography, then still in its infancy. The dialogue between this new art and Modernist culture also revolved around architecture and especially, for some, that icon of modern architecture, Le Corbusier. Lucien Hervé in particular devoted a large part of his oeuvre to chronicling Le Corbusier’s built works, using his medium format camera to convey and celebrate the geometry so dear to the architect and so inspirational to the photographer. His unconventional architectural perspectives, unexpected camera angles and daring framing all reflect the influence of the avant-garde experiments of the 1920s and 1930s that left their mark on European photography. Another Le Corbusier trademark, concrete, held a particular fascination that went well with the subtle tones of Hervé’s black and white photography. Later work that should be mentioned here is the Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe’s treatment of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s oeuvre. The style of photography is radically different, but so too is the architecture: baroque,

p. 161

extravagant and ostentatious. (Different architecture, different photography.) It is unlikely that Presutti had this background in mind when he first turned to architectural photography, but he would have been aware of the importance of the environmental setting – urban and heritage landscapes – in contemporary Italian photography. Gabriele Basilico, Mimmo Jodice, Luigi Ghirri, Olivo Barbieri, Vincenzo Castella, Guido Guidi, Mario Cresci and, in the next generation, Vincenzo Jodice, Marco Zanta and Marina BallotCharmet...There are plenty of Italian photographers who have worked in this area since the 1970s, each with their respective design sensibilities and individual preoccupations. It makes sense therefore to speak of an Italian school of photography, distinct from the German School and the precepts of Bernd and Hilla Becher. The Becher project is driven by a commitment to objective documentation. Presutti, on the other hand, is more of an artist than a chronicler. For him, the photographer-subject relationship is altogether less constrained, but there is always the same disciplined attention to the composition of the image – a chosen course from which he never deviates.

p. 162

YET magazine

01.

Milan

06.

Paris

11.

Utrecht

02.

Milan

07.

Paris

12.

Madrid

03.

Barcelona

08.

Turin

13.

London

04.

Lisbon

09.

Turin

05.

Berlin

10.

Madrid

Contemporanea by Giovanni Presutti

p. 163

p. 184

YET magazine

Mon American Dream by Hugo Deniau

Editorial

Mon American Dream Photographs and text by Hugo Deniau

www.hugodeniau.com

“These images are an imaginary documentation, a motionless journey, a representation of clichés.” From pp. 184---199

p. 185

Since 2012, I’ve been working on this project which documents places, people and objects which remind me of the United States. Because I’ve never been to the USA, these images are an imaginary documentation, a motionless journey, a representation of clichés. It was possible for me to take these photographs thanks to a popular prejudice, to both knowledge and ignorance, in order to try and simulate American mythology. What fascinates me most is the cultural and social dimension, which often results in frivolousness: found in stereotypes, architecture, cheerleading competitions, etc. To capture these images I mainly used artificial lighting and clumsy poses, in order to reference amateur photography and exploitation cinema. Furthermore, all this allows the viewer to put aside any scepticism, and, like when watching a fictional film, one believes, even for just a second, to be looking at authentic photographs taken during a trip on the roads of America.

p. 186

YET magazine

01 09

Mon American Dream by Hugo Deniau

p. 187

p. 200

YET magazine

MONDO by Nicola Mazzuia

p. 201

Editorial

Mondo Photographs and text by Nicola Mazzuia

www.nicolamazzuia.com

Names are photographs. My name is Nicola. From what I remember, not a day has gone by without me pronouncing, hearing, reading, writing or even just thinking my name. Omnipresent, unchanging. As I look at the photograph on my ID card, I think to myself, if this really is me, this face, it’s only because my name is written next to the image. Well, I don’t really look like this, surely… Names outlive us, I think. Our names, and the ones we give to the world. This is what names do, outlive us, and in a way, outlive even themselves. They attach themselves to everything, becoming something or someone, and then they live, much longer than their hosts, suspended in nothingness, evoking images light as the air, and fragile as photographs. All of a sudden I don’t care whether the person in the photograph on that document is or isn’t me, if that never was me or if it no longer is me. I don’t care, because from the moment in which only my name will remain, somewhere, long after I’m gone, then all I will be in the memory of others is that name, and with each memory a different image will appear…

From pp. 200---211

p. 202

YET magazine

“And if I didn’t have a name? Today, I think, I’d probably have a price.”

Mondo by Nicola Mazzuia

I can’t think of anything more primitive than names, and names I believe, are like photographs. I name something and all of a sudden I own it, it is mine, it enters my visual field. You don’t really see things ‘til you look at them, I think, and if don’t look at them first then you can’t name them. And so, all these names appear out of nowhere. We stick them to something or someone, everywhere, I think, as I browse through this catalogue with discount prices on every object. Everything in the world has a name, the world is made up of what we know, made of the same substance as names. But that’s not all, I think, what is the name of something which has yet to be imagined? And the children that have yet to be born? That have yet to learn what a name is? And if I no longer liked the world as it is? If it appeared too greedy and inhospitable? Could I then give a new name to the things yet to come? A better name, perhaps.

p. 203

And in thinking this, the photograph on the document appears more real than me, more real than the prices in this catalogue, I think, reality is so fast that to even have an idea of it we’re forced to freeze it in a moment in time and grasp a small fragment of it, I think - like a name, or even a photograph. The names which we give to things fabricate the world, I think, but not only is this the background on which we construct, in the world there are also the names which have been given to us, which we have given ourselves, here we are, with our lives and the way which we wished they were. And if I didn’t have a name? Today, I think, I’d probably have a price.

YET magazine

p. 212

Midsummer Photographs and text by Kathryn Friedman www.kathrynfriedman.com 04

Midsummer by Kathryn Friedman

Editorial

I created this series over several nights spent at the William Westerfield Mansion in San Francisco. This historic home sits above Alamo Square Park and was built in 1889. It is nicknamed the Russian Embassy in reference to the period in the 1920’s when it was occupied by a group of Czarist Russians who also ran a night club out of it. The Westerfield Mansion also housed the first Hippie commune in the city, and appeared in Tom Wolfe’s book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. While I was still living in San Francisco, the Mansion hosted several Gallery Girls Salons, during which live models would pose in thematic costumes and sets throughout the building for artists to sit and draw them. The particular theme I was shooting was Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Although the models and environments were beautiful and enchanting, I was not satisfied with

From pp. 212---221

p. 213

my camera’s exact replica of the scene. Inspired by the interpretations I was seeing on paper in charcoal, watercolor, ink and paint, I decided to start experimenting with my camera. What resulted are the images you see here: a combination of low light, long exposures and camera movement. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare creates a fantastical world of fairies and magic. These characters undergo physical and emotional changes, and the natural world of the play is also subject to transformation. What I like about this series is that it is very much a personal interpretation of a scene. What I intended to create through my lens began as an experiment, and resulted in conveying a look and feeling which evokes the themes of the play. Only to prove that, as A Midsummer Night’s Dream seems to suggest, dreams and imagination are as useful as reason.

p. 222

YET magazine

Visitation Photographs and text by Ellen Rogers www.ellenrogers.com

VISITATION by Ellen Rogers

Editorial

Emma woke up to the Flora and fauna jabbing at her already purple wrists, the train wasn’t moving anymore. The birds assessed her earlier as she lay on the train base; they had supposed those wrists were the colour of plums and tried to peck them giving her arm an added red glow. She hadn’t hoped to see what was in the bucket beside her so she kept her head turned but its presence was felt in a constant corner of her eye. The wooden floor was wet and decaying, it flaked in parts and blisters of bright orange congealed on the foamy panels in amongst the rich browns. She tried to rub it away and when she did the earthy smells filled the already airy carriage. ‘Where was he?’ she asked and asked and asked, constantly repeating the words internally. Emma found it hard to imagine that this might have just happened in her small town, but it had and all she could think to do is go home, he

From pp. 222---247

p. 223

might be there too. Salt from the tears starting to grate and the muscles pulled all over her face, they ached to remind her not to cry anymore shear dull aches pounded over her head. She remembered their first holiday together. They were shacked up in a small B&B on a neglected farm in his home town. It was their way of escaping from London. The cottage they stayed in wasn’t finished yet so it had woodchip exposed and they had to push the two single beds together to make a double. There was a large ginger tabby in the farm too with her kittens, they would sit outside in the summer nights and play with them, tempting them into the cottage with tidbits left from breakfast. They spend their days walking the lands she would come to know well, steep hills and unexpected mists. He would always call them ‘wisps’. Without him there she was removed, the landscape didn’t have a context and it didn’t seem real anymore.

p. 224

YET magazine

The walk back was going to be heavier than anticipated, slow and stuck in wades of mud, the feeling of treading water. Her flat feet were attached to lead filled shins. Pains grew near her ankles now and breath became harder to take. The cold was unbearable and her ears pained and rung. A wall grew between Emma and her vision, the bottom of her eyes hung low and the iris stuck to her lids. Darted up eyes with a tilted down face. Heavy weights grew on her shoulders and haze/despair filled her throat and fore mind. What was that thing? The air didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like it; it churned a bluish cold mist when it moved. At first it was comforting, when the air filled with that scent. She grew up surrounded by that same smell, engine grease, oil, metal and nature reclaiming it. The metallic iron scent that hits you cold and sharp, the smell you imagine excesses of blood

might have. But this was heighted and extremities proved that it was indeed the same smell as the waves of blood she would come to endure. Remembering to leave the carriage she jumped down fearing her weight would smack her feet, the carriage was high and nobody was left there on the track. Her feet were tingling and it made her more aware of the balls of her feet making her tread more cautiously and momentarily on the sides of her foot. Excesses of blood, soused wet shoes and cold feet entered her mind again the fear made her giggle and twitch nervously, after the things she had seen there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much courage left to be had. The memory of cold dark metals, heavy limp bodies and freshly turned peat permeated the air and the thinner-than-water queasiness she was left with when she recalled the red liquid sloshing between her toes. The iridescent red oil clotted in puddles around the areas the machines would grow, it was as though they could bleed too.

Visitation by Ellen Rogers

A sound reverberated causing her to imagine her eyes far back into her head; it was her way of blocking it out as though she could disappear to sleep for that second, the cold clear air rushed back to her consciousness. The sound echoed again, of course she knew it. The first time she heard it lead to situation she found herself in.

Once off the track a sudden rolling-hill graduated so drastically that it could hardly be walked, she was home. A sorry disappointment crushed her, a home cut off, an empty presence with no knowledge of her family but maybe he was inside.

What was that thing? Men in a Land Rover with scrim and camouflage clothing rode alongside the departing train and approached Emma with large bundles of hay; one carried a machete and laughed as though it were a cough he had caught. The men seemed large and Emma thought that they appeared too large to fit back into the vehicle they came out of. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Get out of here girl before anyone sees youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Another sprung at her and snaked the knife as though to tease her with it. She ran again feeling the stitch of cramp capping her speed. Once into the shallow woods she ran back to the opening of the road.

p. 225

Taken from: www.blog.ellenrogers.co.uk/ posts/visitation/#block-viewsblog-node-content-block-1

p. 226

YET magazine

Visitation by Ellen Rogers

p. 227

p. 248

YET magazine

Project

p. 249

GROUND ZERO

Ground Zero is a cultural publication which was born in 2009, and intends to rethink and re-show the contemporary, post-September 11th Canton Ticino, with a new and different outlook, posing itself as a meeting point for the new and emerging creativity in Ticino. Poetry, short stories, reportages, essays are juxtaposed with photographs, illustrations, comic strips and drawings to create a connection between writers and artists of the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and to bring attention to their work. In this way, they have the chance to share the stories of our land, of our customs, and of the people who live here. The project is divided into five different publications with set themes: Places, food, people, waste, frontiers. Furthermore, we imagined a character who, in a journey which crosses the five publications, undertakes a journey through our society. This character, in which if you wanted to you could identify yourself with, during the first stage of their voyage will reflect on their places of residence, of work and of consummation. Next they will be hungry, and therefor will reflect on everything which they need in order to survive. During the third stage of their journey they will look into the mirror and they will ask themselves who they are. They will, at one point, feel the necessity to expel, and because of this will face the waste and the refuse of their world. Having arrived at the end of their journey, in June 2013, they will ask themselves what their future is, and the Ticino which will be. Each number is built on the basis of a “game”, an editorial which traces a line and follows the journey of this imaginary character through various contents. Each number has a specific style, distinct from the others, to reflect the determinant theme. The theme also determines the relationship between visual and written contents. The images are never, in this project, a simple illustration to accompany a text, but always and fundamental part of the general themes of the issue. Sometimes the image-text juxtapositions are made following an analogy, other times following a contrast or presented independently. We present to you a few examples of the work on this content which sets out to create a constant dialogue between literature and photography, painting and poetry, …

Italiano I1 (…) Lugano non è Parigi, Venezia o Roma, qui il turismo è diventato ingestibile. Una volta attorno alla stazione c’erano almeno una ventina di alberghi: oggi sono stati tutti chiusi e abbattuti. Chi non era proprietario si è ritrovato

Estratto da ALBERGO da Ground Zero #01/Luoghi reportage di Olmo Cerri

p. 250

YET magazine

a confrontarsi con affitti esorbitanti, la clientela non è cresciuta e sono stati costretti a smettere. Le vecchie generazioni non hanno avuto un ricambio, i “nuovi” hanno ritenuto molto più interessante vivere con i proventi della vendita degli immobili. Oggi l’albergo si rivolge sempre meno ai turisti, è diventato un riferimento per tanti che si ritrovano ad aver bisogno di un alloggio. Qui all’Hotel Besso arriva un po’ di tutto, dal viaggiatore in treno a chi si ritrova a non avere un appartamento perché magari litiga con la moglie, oppure perché ha la fidanzata e non può portarla a casa e vogliono stare comunque in intimità. Abbiamo avuto anche persone provenienti dall’estero a Lugano per lavoro, nell’attesa di un appartamento definitivo si fermano da noi per qualche settimana. Anche i servizi sociali ci mandano dei clienti, gente normale, persone che si trovano a livello psicologico in una situazione particolare o magari non riescono a gestire un problema familiare o finanziario. Gente che da un giorno all’altro si trova senza lavoro, ad avere fatture da pagare e non riuscire a gestirle, magari persone che non sono abituate, gente seria. Questa è solo una sistemazione d’urgenza, anche se spesso rimangono a lungo, perché per chi non ha soldi non è facile trovare un appartamento. (…)

English I2 (…) Lugano is not Paris, or Venice, or Rome, here the tourism has become unmanageable. Some time ago, around the station there were at least twenty-odd hotels: now they have all closed down and have been demolished. Those who didn’t own the buildings found themselves facing extortionate rent costs, customers did not increase, and they were forced to quit. The old generations didn’t see a replacement, the “new” ones thought it would be more interesting to live off the proceeds of the real estate sales. Today hotels are less and less of interest to tourists, and have become a reference point for many people who find themselves in need of accommodation. Here at the Hotel Besso we see it all, from the train-traveler to those who find themselves without a flat - maybe because they’ve argued with their wives, or because they have a girlfriend they can’t take home but still want to be in intimacy with. We’ve also had people come to Lugano for work, from abroad, who, while waiting for a definitive home, stay with us for a few weeks. The civil service also sends us clients, normal people, people who find themselves in a particular situation under a psychological point of view, or who maybe can’t manage a family problem or financial problem. People who out of the blue find themselves without a job, and having to pay invoices without being able to, people who maybe aren’t used to this sort of situation, serious people. This is only an emergency adjustment, even if often they’ll stay for longer, because for those without money it’s not easy to find a flat. (…) I bambini, due gemelli, in piedi davanti

From HOTEL, Ground Zero #01/Places Reportage by Olmo Cerri

Ground Zero

Image 1

Italiano II3

I bambini, due gemelli, in piedi davanti all’entrata, la osservano uscire dal Market-village con una gonna rosa e le gambe come legnetti. Si regge in piedi, ma pare ubriaca. C’è un fiume di gente distribuito tra le auto incolonnate, alveare passivo, lava, giù per il parcheggio. Carrelli gas pacchi clacson. Trentadue gradi all’ombra. Un tossico chiede spiccioli accanto alla cesta per “rifiuti misti”. I gemelli ciucciano una fetta di melone gelido. La donna spinge il carrello con la sua gonna rosa, sotto il sole, fino ai bordi nuovi d’asfalto e cemento. Un fuoristrada la urta: una signora sui trenta, abbronzata, occhiali neri, odore di crema solare, abbassa il finestrino del carro armato insultandola. Il Jeep si mimetizza nella lava, ma i piedi secchi della donna si sono già inceppati nel carrello… e giù per il piazzale, rotolano le scatole di cibo per cani, un reggimento di cani. La donna si piega al rallentatore. Allunga una mano e sembra un animaletto che trema, finché crolla dentro l’asfalto bollente. I gemelli si guardano. Poi, statue gelide, continuano a ciucciare il melone. Il tossico chiede spiccioli accanto alla cesta per “rifiuti misti”. «Ottantanove anni, viveva in un monolocale in periferia. Denutrita, disidratata, alimentava sette gatti e tre cani. Vedova. Non aveva figli. Gli animali furono soppressi.» Image 1 “BORGO” from Ground Zero #01/Places Collage by Davide Cascio

TONNO da Ground Zero #02/Cibo testo di Fabiano Alborghetti

p. 251

p. 252

YET magazine II4

(Given the nature of the text, we didn’t feel comfortable providing a translation as it could undermine its meaning.) Summary: We are in front of a large supermarket, watching a scene through the eyes of two twin children. An old woman pushes a shopping cart, a drug addict asks for spare change, the sun beats down, hot, and the twins survey the scene eating a melon. The old woman can barely stand and is knocked over by a jeep, she falls to the ground and dies. The text, characterised by tragic connotations, deals with the theme of solitude. We discover that the old woman, malnourished and dehydrated, lived on her own - a widow without children.

Image 2

III5

Analizzassero la mia spesa direbbero: Bisogno di energia (vitamine, biscotti), Poco tempo per cucinare (surgelati, würstel, scatolame), Leggermente sovrappeso (sottilette Léger, insalata). Dunque: Studente in tempo diesami. Anche per via della qualità degli acquisti. Qualcuno azzarderebbe le mie origini Ticinese (luganighetta). Di sicuro vive solo! direbbero Altrimenti le bottiglie sarebbero da litro. Sul mio sesso an-

TUNA From Ground Zero #02/Food text by Fabiano Alborghetti

Image 2 Picture by Anthony Neuenschwander

From Ground Zero #02/Food Testo di Flavio Stroppini

Ground Zero

p. 253

drebbero sicuri Alta percentuale di carne: maschio! Poi avrebbero un dubbio Spesa per due maschi? Nonostante le bottiglie. Ma durerebbe poco. Due maschi acquisterebbero molta più merce! I più arditi supporrebbero la facoltà che frequento Non scientifica: architettura? Ma sarebbe solo un’ipotesi. Una giocata rischiosa. Poi qualcuno prenderebbe in considerazione che io sia un uomo in carriera, sulla cinquantina, con moglie e figli in ferie, che si chiede cosa sia rimasto della propria giovinezza.

Image 3

III6

(Given the nature of the text, we didn’t feel comfortable providing a translation as it could undermine its meaning.) Summary: the text, inserted in the second issue of Ground Zero with the theme Food, deals with the subject of indifference towards the possibilities of identity of a person, based on the shopping that they do. By analysing their purchases, mainly food, we can delineate a real identikit which allows us to discover the person concealed behind their common shopping.

IV7

2. Ho fatto un incidente stradale, ma all’ospedale si sono rifiutati di somministrarmi le cure. Ho chiesto il perché, dato che ho versato per vent’anni

Image 3 Picture by Anthony Neuenschwander

From Ground Zero #02/Food Text by Flavio Stroppini

Estratti da NUCA Ground Zero #03/Persone testo di Fabiano Alborghetti

p. 254

YET magazine

i contributi come tutti gli altri lavoratori. Mi hanno detto che non hanno diritto all’assistenza sanitaria gli “stranieri illegali”. Io mi chiamo

3. Mi hanno distrutto il passaporto con la bucatrice da ufficio. La mia identità è diventata coriandoli. Nel 1992 volevo rinnovare la patente di guida. L’impiegata mi aveva chiesto di portare anche il passaporto perché doveva registrare dei dati. Poi ha preso il passaporto, è andata in un’altra stanza e l’ha bucato. Mi è sembrato strano perché era valido ancora tre anni. L’impiegata mi ha detto lei non può avere i nostri documenti. Così sono rimasto senza documenti e la patente non mi è stata prorogata. L’impiegata mi ha detto che potevo farlo “nel mio paese”. Il mio paese non esisteva più, era in guerra e non esisteva più. Nemmeno io

esistevo più.

23. È stato un “genocidio virtuale” consumato davanti ai monitor dei computer. Non davanti alle persone, capisci? Ha avuto effetti devastanti su queste migliaia di persone. Non ha coinvolto solo i singoli “cancellati”, ma l’insieme delle loro famiglie, la mia famiglia. Il mio nome è

31. Hanno espulso mio marito perché non esisteva più e da allora non ho avuto più notizie. Credo sia morto, altrimenti in qualche modo sarebbe tornato, avrebbe trovato il modo di tornare. Lui si chiama

IV8

2. I had a car accident, but in the hospital they refused to treat me. I asked why, because for the past twenty years I’d been paying my contributions like all the other workers. They said that “illegal immigrants” don’t have the right to health care. My name is

3. They destroyed my passport with an office hole puncher. My identity turned into confetti. In 1992 I wanted to renew my driver’s license. The clerk asked me to bring my passport because she needed to register my information. Then she took my passport, went into another room and hole punched it. I thought it was strange because it was valid for another three years. The clerk told me I couldn’t have their documents. So I was without identification and the license was never extended. The clerk told me I could do it “in my own country”. My country no longer existed, it was at war and it no longer existed. And I,

extracts from NAPE Ground Zero #03/People Text by Fabiano Alborghetti

no longer existed either.

Image 4 Picture by Natasha Quadri

Image 4 >

p. 256

YET magazine

23. It was a “virtual genocide”, consumed in front of the computer monitors. Not in front of people, you know? It had a devastating effect on millions of people. It didn’t only involve those individuals who had been “erased”, but their families too, my family. My name is

31. They ejected my husband because he no longer existed and since then I have no longer heard any news. I think he died, otherwise in one way or another he would have returned, he would have found a way to return. His name is

Image 5

Image 5 Picture by Natasha Quadri

Image 6 Picture by Natasha Quadri

Image 6 >

p. 258

YET magazine V9

Nord, nord. Profondissimamente a nord. A partire proprio dalla cima. Dalle attaccature visibili della chioma per scivolare lungo tutta la superficie del cuoio cappelluto. Là dove l’autostima può già vacillare se inciampa fin dai primi passi in quelle nidiate di scaglie bianche e secche. Basta una semplice scrollata di testa e tutte quelle cellule epiteliali morte si tuffano nel vuoto come un’improvvisa nevicata. È silenziosa, la forfora. Gioca d’imbosco. Come quei guerriglieri che rifiutano la civiltà e combattono la loro sporca battaglia nascosti negli intrichi della giungla. Ma non c’è pace, nemmeno se ci si spinge poco più in basso. Non tanto per quelle perdite fisiologiche di singole sopracciglia o ciglia, timidi incidenti collaterali che scompaiono davanti agli occhi, perché è nei loro angoli che lo sguardo trova il suo più cisposo sabotaggio. La notte, l’ora dell’ azione e della produzione. Il mattino, i suoi effetti più disturbanti con la palpebra che rimane semisigillata alla pupilla per colpa di quei micro-depositi di materiale, a volte colloso e a volte friabile, chiamati comunemente con il termine di caccole. Ne troveremo altre, nel nostro viaggio. Anche a poca distanza da lì.

V10

(Given the nature of the text, we didn’t feel comfortable providing a translation as it could undermine its meaning.) Summary: the text, inserted in the fourth issue of Ground Zero titled Waste, is the first stage of a journey which explores the excrements of our body. Consisting of a strong pace and a fairly substantial use of metaphors, it starts from the northernmost point, the scalp, where we encounter dandruff, descending down to the eyes and nose, where we come across snot.

estratto da: “DISOCCUPATO” Ground Zero #04/Rifiuti

Extract from: “UNEMPLOYED” Ground Zero #04/Waste

Image 7 Picture by Igor Ponti

Ground Zero

Image 7

p. 259

p. 260

YET magazine

Swiss Press Photo Award 13 Text by Giulia Giani

Information: Swiss Press Photo 13 19.04.2013 - 30.06.2013 Landesmuseum Z端rich Museumstrasse 2 8021 Zurich Tel. +41 (0) 44 218 65 11 web. http://www.nationalmuseum.ch

Exhibition

p. 261

From April 19th to June 30th the Landesmuseum in Zurich is hosting the Swiss Press Photo 2013 exhibition, event in which the best press photographs of 2012 are selected and awarded. 173 Swiss photographers participated in the contest and an international jury selected the winning images from 2825 photographs. The contest was born in 1991 with the idea of promoting Swiss photojournalism. The prizes were awarded by the Reinhardt von Graffenried Foundation on April 12th 2013, at the Stadtheater in Bern. YET was at the exhibition private view, and had the chance to catch a sneak preview of the images which were selected for the various categories, as well as other selected work.

Laurent Gilliéron Crash Bus Sierre, KEYSTONE

Right by the entrance I found myself in front of prize-winning Laurent Gilliéron, elected photographer of the year, as well as winner of the News category, thanks to his images which give a particular and dramatic view on the bus accident in the Sierre tunnel in Valais, which caused the deaths of 28 people. The Swiss photographer was awarded the prizes for two extremely different photographs – on one side the portrait of a young girl, a relative to one of the victims, crying during the funeral, on the other an image of the first aid to arrive on the spot that night. The exhibition, thought up as a sort of installation, given the use of backlit panels on which the photographs have been mounted, forces the

p. 262

YET magazine

viewers to surround the images. Nothing has been put up in a “museum-like” way, so there is no detachment between the viewer and the work, but just the tranquillity to absorb the depth and beauty of each photograph. Further in the exhibition we find the different sections dedicated to their respective winners. Thanks to his bravura, Steeve Luncker won the prize in the category Daily Life and Environment, with images portraying the Samaritani aiding the Swiss high school students in Geneva, who have had one drink too many during the traditional Escalade parade in the park des Basions. Daniel Tischler won the prize in the Portraits category with his images – part of a series taken over a period of four years, in which he photographed different Swiss personalities, creating an exhibition of eccentric people who underline Swiss identity. Michael Buholzer caught the moment in the Sports category, winning the first prize with a photograph of Roger Federer swatting a wasp during a warm up before the Davis Cup match against the United States. Valérie Chételat was awarded first place in the Art and culture category with an image of the front door of a historical dance school in Viktoriastrasse in Bern, which shut down in 2012 after 82 years of activity. Dominic Nahr won first prize in the World category with a portrait representing some of the members of the civil population of the Nouba Mountains in Sudan, victims of bombardment during the war for the exploitation of oil between the north and south of the country. Amongst the winners just mentioned, I wanted to underling the calibre of all the selected work, which together produce a research into various social groups in

Michael Buholzer, Roger Federer, Diverse Zeitungen

Swiss Press Photo Award 13

p. 263

which the exhibited photographers work. Thomas Reufer in particular caught my attention, with his photograph of the bathroom of a nurse affected by Diogenes syndrome, a not very well-known illness characterised by the hoarding of rubbish, severe self neglect and denial. The 49 year old woman was found dead in her apartment. In the People category, I want to underline a peculiar and unusual underwater portrait of the Bernese writer E.Y. Mayer, immortalised by Fabian Untern채hrer. Furthermore, the exhibition awarded Arnold Hottinger, a photographer who made the history of Swiss photojournalism, with the Reinhardt von Graffenried Lifetime Achievement Award. The photographer, born in Basel in 1926, has been a reference point for many decades thanks to his knowledge of the Islamic world and his publication of various books. The Swiss Press Photo Award exhibition has a relevant characteristic, as it aims to display in the whole territory the importance and singularity of Swiss documentary photography. All the photographs exhibited have been published on national newspapers. Observing the images present, one really gets an idea of the view that characterises the way of living and understanding photojournalism in Switzerland. The uniqueness of the work displayed is in fact the outcome of an intense view, both on a national and international level. The people presented, the places, the extreme situations, but also the sport and culture photographs, highlight the customs and traditions of an entire nation.

Daniel Tischler, Paradise Tea, Kinki Magazine

pg. 260

YET magazine

YET magazine is an online triannual photography publication which showcases editorials and photography series from artists worldwide. YET is a magazine about photography. Photography is the main subject and our aim is to feature several different styles of photography, without any restriction in genre, medium, or theme. All the photographers invited by the editorial team are free to develop a personal project and to tell their stories. YET aspires to explore the artist’s work in depth to discover what lies beneath, to find out what it is the photographers want to convey through their series and why. “Photography is the result of combining several technical discoveries”. We believe that these processes should be shown because they are the result of the thought process which goes on behind the photographer’s work. Each photograph, regardless of what medium it has been captured with,

represents something very meaningful, buried deep in whoever took it. YET magazine was created to give a visual voice to these stories, in order to share them with an audience. We will showcase both emerging and established photographers. To us, a photographer is someone who can control time and space, who has a vision and is able to express it in the form of an image. What we desire is to tell something about the person behind these creations, starting from the story they tell through their photographs. The photography in YET magazine, by editorial choice, is published free from any graphic or text insertions, without being cropped or cut, and free from any form of further editing. Each series is exhibited exactly how the photographer created it. We base our work on ethical rules which emerge from the firm belief that a photographer’s work must be shown as it is.

YET magazine

Issue N째 02