GinostraPhotographs by Benedetta Großrubatscher
The question of whether it is possible to photograph the singing of the cicadas, the feeling of a cooling air draft in the midday heat, or the scent of lemons on a damp stone, I would have answered recently with No. Now I know better.
Certainly Ginostra is a special place, situated on the island of Stromboli, behind the volcano, reachable only by ship or taking the long walk over the mountain. No cars, little electric light, simple houses with porches, southern way of life - the Mediterranean Sea to the front and to the back the volcano. And certainly Benedetta Großubatscher loves Ginostra, her «island within an island», to which she returns again and again since her first visit in 1975.
But actually this is not the point. Each view - to the sea or the volcano, to a flower or clothespins on a leash, to a goose in the straw or a colorfully painted wooden boat - magically transforms into intimacy and the safe feeling: «It is just right as it is». A rare experience, at least in my everyday life.
Therefore «Ginostra» has aroused my longing. Not for the island, but for this feeling. I think Benedetta´s images help me to find it again.
Hannes Wanderer/Peperoni Books Berlin
co-published with ex pose verlag
Benedetta Großrubatscher
Ginostra
With an essay by Giuseppe Galanzino
German, italian, english
92 Pages
63 Color images
17,5 x 22 cm
Threadstitched, softcover with flaps
Edition of 500 - ISBN 978-3-941825-79-6
EUR 32