Naphtha Tribes*
Inspired by Edward Curtis as he immortalized Native Americans, Fab Rideti photographs the last representatives of our civilization, the “founders” of the 7th continent **, before ecological consciousness makes these portraits no longer conceivable.
The series highlights consumerism and emptiness behind appearance. Like ridiculous warriors, the characters adorn themselves with plastic, a material they claim to be noble although it is causing their downfall.
Fab Rideti is touched by the ability of Man to persist in deadly mistakes. To get our full attention, she chose humor and tenderness over guilt. She portrays our vanity and blindness with tenderness.
She emphasizes the emptiness of consumption, when nature urges us to return to authenticity.
* Naphtha is a liquid obtained from petroleum refining which constitutes the raw material of plastics.
** The 7th Continent is a gigantic concentration of plastic waste in the ocean in the northeast Pacific, between California and the Hawaiian archipelago. This area is three times the size of France, made up of billions of micro-plastics, resulting from the fragmentation of this material.
