Solastalgia by Marina Vitaglione

A collection of works by French photographer Marina Vitaglioni.

Venice's delicate foundations are slowly being eroded by tides, subsidence and pollution, irreversible changes that threaten this much-loved city. With images generated from film degraded by exposure to the waters of the Adriatic Sea, this photo/text documentary unravels a stark and raw story that documents the disappearance of this water city.

Combining creative storytelling and poetic photography, Solastalgia highlights the ever-increasing environmental problems that affect the archipelago of 118 islands that make up Venice. Venice is a World Heritage Site and the European city most exposed to the threat of global warming. Its architecture and delicate foundations are gradually being eroded by rising sea levels, subsidence, frequent high tides and marine pollution caused by oversized cruise ships. Over the past century, the water level has risen by nearly 30 centimeters, which the UNESCO World Heritage Committee feared in 2016 as a "time-sensitive situation". Written in the voice of Venice, which is being devastated by its inhabitants and slowly being forgotten, this emotive collection evokes Venice's former grandeur and at the same time invites reflection on the future of a worsening situation. The images in this book were generated from film negatives that were left for several weeks in the waters of the Adriatic Sea, which is actively eroding and engulfing the city.

*"Solastalgia" refers to homesickness caused by a change in environment even while still at home.

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Title: Solastalgia
Artist: Marina Vitaglione
Overlapse, 2017
Hardcover, section-sewn and quarter-bound
240 x 170 mm, 84 pages
First Edition
ISBN: 9780994791924
¥4,700 + tax