Idyssey (*w/ signed print*)

Presentation by Editions Bessard:

"The first book of the Odyssey suggests some verses in the entire history of the famous epic journey to the frontiers of Earth and beyond and the adventures of Odysseus, the impossible oblivion Ithaca and finally, the return: Immediately we are captivated by the events where mythology exalts the gestures of men, bound or guided by divine passions.

The fascination of our childhood for fairy tales extends into adolescence with the reading of the Odyssey, a concentrate of desires, fantasies and fears. The distances to be covered, the frightening appearance of the monsters, the dangers encountered, are here amplified, as are the excessive passions and the absolute cruelty.

Unlike fairy tales, here there is no forgiveness and a happy ending is a very difficult conquest. But the essential theme is always the path to knowledge and realization of oneself; a metaphor of the course of life through identification with heroes and their initiatory journey.

By concieving a work on the sites of the Odyssey, equipped with a simple smartphone, Stefano De Luigi perpetuates the relationship with modern technologies. Yesterday it was the first films, today is the digital medium, new companion of travel, of which he explores the infinite potential. Accustomed to lengthy editorial projects, careful observer of developments in our society, De Luigi has retraced the Mediterranean by drawing a constant parallel between the classical world and the contemporary world.

His project offers a myriad of interpretations: a new reading of the Odyssey inscribed in the current context; a look at the Mediterranean, a theater of new and dramatic wanderings; a journey in the footsteps of Western civilization; a reflection on the use of a media. In reality, all these readings intertwine and, from one to the other of the twelve steps of Ulysses, the story moves from a documentary approach to a more literary tone, made of images that tell realityl and of others that give free rein to imagination and nostalgia. (...)

            - Laura Serani "