From politics to religion, going from music, sport and television, between 2009 and 2015 Simone Donati crossed his country in search of myths and icons of the Italian contemporary imaginary. This project provides a glimpse into the Italian society with an ironic but also
purely documentary look. The resulting book contains a selection of 48 images with the addition of phrases taken from Facebook groups of the various situations photographed. There is also an afterword by writer Quit the Doner, which besides giving an opinion on the subject also comments on the Facebook phrases.
“Since early 2009 I have started looking into mass events where heterogeneous communities show similar patterns of behaviour. Travelling around the peninsula in search of myths and icons of the contemporary imaginary, and participating in the most oddly assorted events, I understood how my country is the most grotesque, funny, naïve and fanatic to live in and to photograph.
I searched for what drives people to aggregate to pursue a personal interest, which in the representation on stages, real or ideal, becomes collective.”
– Simone Donati
BOOK
Hotel Immagine
Photographs by Simone Donati
First edition
750 copies
14.8 x 21 cm (5.8 x 8.3 in)
Hardcover, 128 pages
Italian and English
Price: 32€ plus shipping
https://vimeo.com/126611602
