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Background information
"In order to escape from the labyrinth in which they had been imprisoned, Daedalus made a pair of wings for himself and for his son Icarus. Flying would make them free. In his enthusiasm, after taking flight Icarus got too close to the sun, as a result of which the heat melted the wax that held the feathers on his back and he ended up falling into the sea and drowning. Over the course of history, a liaison has been forged between human beings and the sky; between the desire TO FLY and the physical and symbolic meaning entailed by flying. As a result, flight brings together contrary and complementary elements: the eternal and ascending as opposed to the perishable and descending, the hope and distress in the act of learning to fly and thus rising or plunging to the ground; life and death. Our desire TO FLY responds to our need to move one place to another, although we very often plunge into an abyss, as did Icarus. To become airborne — that’s where the poetry lies.
Birds are symbols of thought, imagination, and of connections with the spirit. Wings and feathers express an elevation to the sublime, signaling liberation and victory. They are worn by heroes.
Content
The photo volume 'Icaro' by Irene ZOTTOLA is an artist book. Using sheets from an encyclopedia found on the street, selected fragments of a novel, and photo prints made with liquid emulsion in the darkroom, this project establishes a parallel between the flight of birds and human beings, their life journey, and their relationship with the surrounding environment.
Additional information
This Project, 'Icaro' by Irene ZOTTOLA was the winner of the Fifth Fotocanal Photobook Competition 2020." (© Ediciones Anomalas, 2021)