It was composed in the late 8th century B.C. and together with the Iliad, it is one of the oldest and most influential poems in western culture. The epic has its roots in an oral tradition, transmitted by itinerant poets, singers and storytellers. It was usually told or chanted in monotone music, sometimes sung by performers among villages and towns of the ancient world. In contemporary society, t
he digital revolution has drastically changed the transmission of knowledge and information. Just as computers directed our lives in a different way, now tablets and smartphones dominate the various means of communication. A smartphone can function as a radio, a telephone, a camera and a video camera, even a telegraph if we would need one. Everyone can now be a storyteller. IDyssey is a photographic project that aims to combine two extremes of our culture: past and future. The first epic novel of our history transmitted through the most contemporary media. A travel report using only the iPhone as a camera. There are several theories concerning Odysseus’ itinerary from the city of Troy towards the island of Ithaca, but none of these have been confirmed till today. Among the numerous hypothesis (including an Odyssey that takes place in the Baltic sea) I decided to follow the path narrated by the famous Hellenist Victor Berard in his book “Dans le Sillage d'Ulysse”, 1933. IDyssey follows part of the most common accepted itinerary of the Odyssey. The project includes 12 stops, from Troy to Ithaca, crossing through Turkey, Tunisia, Italy and Greece:
1. Ismaros (Greece) (Kikonians)
3. Djerba Island (Tunisia) (Lotus-eaters)
4. Posillipo (Italy) (Cyclops)
5. Stromboli (Italy) (Eole)
6. Circeo Mountain (Italy) ( Circe)
7. Cuma (Italy) (Entry of Hades)
8. Palinuro (Italy) ( Syrens Island)
9. Messina Channel, Scilla and Cariddi (Italy) (Scylla and Charybdis)
10.Trapani and Mothia Island (Italy) (Sun Island)
11.Corfu (Greece) (Phaecians Island)
12.Ithaca (Greece) (Ulysses Kingdom)
The first part of the project has been developed in two months between March and May 2012. I traveled like a modern Odysseus, using all the current transport facilities that have changed our way to travel distances long ago considered enormous. The purpose of the project is to describe what remains of an epic world and how the Mediterranean, birthplace of western culture, has evolved, modifying its aspect and substance. I tried, through stories of people that I encountered, to describe places and cultures of three sides of a sea that still represents an ideal bridge of tradition and religion between Asia, Africa and Europe. Crossing restless border countries I have been able to describe the Greek crisis, which is also the crisis of European politics, as well as Tunisia's profound hopes for change that have seen it as the first one to start this great freedom movement known as Arab Spring. I have traveled through southern Italy and its mysterious lands in the hands of crime organizations, at the same time characterized by religious feasts that still preserve their pagan mysticism. A great occasion to use the most modern technological tool to compare and tell about this place full of historical myths and legends.
