Photo Journal Monday: Antonino Barbaro
@Antonino Barbaro. From Series A Place Like No Other.
Images and text by Antonino Barbaro
The Strait of Messina, with its natural patrimony and millennial history, is a place like no other in the world. Situated between Sicily and mainland Italy, it is a unique stretch of sea that has witnessed the birth and flourishing of many great civilizations throughout the centuries.
@Antonino Barbaro. From Series A Place Like No Other.
As far back as Roman times, the dream of a stable connection over the strait has provided many opportunities to debate its ambitious realisation. Console Lucius Caecilius Metellus was one of the first advocates of a bridge that would allow transportation to Rome of the elephants taken from Asdrubales during the First Punic War. In more recent times, the idea of a cutting-edge technology solution made history for its colossal failure, uncovering corrupt interests, political vanity, and personal greed by many figures of the Italian political class.
@Antonino Barbaro. From Series A Place Like No Other.
A Place Like No Other provides an overview of the events around the bridge’s failure and is developed within four levels: utopian, dystopian, local, and global. Video, 3D rendering, photographic, and archival material has been combined into an installation that introduces the bridge’s story to an international audience. It is a multimedia body of work raising questions of environmental nature, social injustice, and the use of propagandistic discourse as a tool for asserting political power.
@Antonino Barbaro. From Series A Place Like No Other.
@Antonino Barbaro. From Series A Place Like No Other.
To learn more, visit Antonino Barbaro’s website and instagram @antonino__barbaro.
