23 June 2014

A teacher/writer and a photographer, Claudio Giunta and Giovanna Silva, have made a tour of Iceland, from Reykjavik to Reykjavik, following Route 1, a strip of asphalt that runs all the way round the island. The result is the splendid Tutta la solitudine che meritate. Viaggio in Islanda [“All the Solitude You Deserve. A Journey in Iceland”], a guide in the style of the ones written by 19th-century explorers that is at once a story, a photographic project and a mine of information for curious tourists. The Iceland it shows us is made up of bags of radishes munched as snacks and deserted parking lots, light traces of humanity (a house, a tractor, a barn, scattered here and there) and, above all, a nature gone crazy, abounding in geysers and misty pools, volcanic rocks and emerald green lichen. And then, of course, there is the solitude, an overwhelming emptiness that brands its mark on existence and stuns visitors, leaving them completely intoxicated. The style is delicate, rhythmic, with no shortcuts. For there is no need to run around looking for things to see: “moving from place A to place B can already be an end in itself, if the setting that you pass through favors that movement. Iceland favors it.” Published by Humboldt.

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva

© Giovanna Silva