Thinking like an Island by Gabriele Chiapparini + Camilla Marrese

A photo book by Italian artist duo Gabriele Chaparini + Camila Maresse.

The island is remote in the Mediterranean Sea, 675 metres high. Its population is uncertain - between 30 and 60 people year-round - and it has no hospital, no cars, no priests or police. Some islanders refuse to leave, while others return to life in a bubble that is hard to leave. A community that exists on hallucinogenic bread has untold stories, complex family trees and historical lore.

Written in an "unconventional" book format, "Thinking like an Island" examines geographical, social and temporal spaces, systems and their mobile logic. Eschewing the archetypal island tropes of utopia and dystopia, the work looks at the ongoing process of identity construction: conflict and coexistence, choice and confinement, innovation and resistance. The experience proves to be layered, pluralized and dense.

As the unsustainability of our economic and social systems becomes clear, Chiapparini and Marese ask whether an island, where everything is reduced to the bare essentials, can become an idealistic model for surviving the crisis that engulfs us. Their work includes diary excerpts, quotes from the island's inhabitants, and exploratory photography of mystical landscapes and portraits. The book takes a poetic and philosophical approach to understanding the wider world through the perspective of a solitary microcosm.

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Published by Overlapse, 2024
Softcover, Section-sewn, exposed bindings; foil on printed paper covers + spine
170 x 220 mm
224 pages across four integrated books (two sized 170 x 105 mm and two sized 84 x 220 mm)
Text in English
First edition, October
ISBN: 9781738130016
¥11,000-