89books

No, we are not doing this on purpose to speak ill of our city. We do not belong to any party. This is debris in my beautiful Palermo. I asked a friend Paolo Caravello to make a simple and direct photographic documentation of what we, ordinary citizens, see every day going around the city, between the seafront, hospitals, gardens, the historic center, the suburbs. This series of "files" is not a denunciation of the public administration, though it might seem so given the pre-election period, but a testimony of the state of affairs in 2021-2022. Shot with the phone of an outraged photographer, but first and foremost a citizen. In Palermo there are infinite and hidden beauties but there is a lot of this degradation. Everywhere. Too much. We have become used to neglecting it, not paying attention. What is more grave, however, is obviously the moral degradation that lies behind all of this. The lack of civic sense of most of the people of Palermo which is paired with the incapacity and powerlessness of present, past, and future public administrations. Mauro D’Agati

Nerina Toci was born in Tirana on January 21, 1988. In 2015 she began to photograph, preferring black and white. She has exhibited in Italy, Albania, Chile and Francia. In 2016 she won the "Guido Orlando - Peppino Impastato" photo award. in 2017 she released her first book "l'Immagine è l'unico ricordo che ho", edited by Navarra Editore, Palermo, with the preface written by Letizia Battaglia. In 2019 she curated - together with Davide Di maggio, the exhibition, "Il corpo è un livido". In 2020 she participated in the collective exhibition “La Face Autre de l'Autre Face” at the MUC, Musée Urbain Cabrol in Villefranche de Rouergue and at the Mudima Foundation in Milan. In 2020 her second book "Un seme di collina" was published by the Mudima Foundation, with the texts by Davide Di Maggio, Achille Bonito Oliva, Lorand Hegyi, Dominique Stella, Andrea Lissoni, Lisetta Carmi. In 2022 she participated in the collective exhibition "Resurrection". She also collaborates with the magazine independent of poetry and culture magazine NiedernGasse.

Old brothels like Mytrichit Hotel in Bangkok’s Chinatown are destined to disappear in the near future, however, its walls bear the marks of both despair and pure joy. Covering the wretched walls are quotes and phrases written by old prostitutes and their clients - these contain simple truths, old Thai sayings, dirty words, or just broad warnings about the hotel and its derelict facilities. Cheap and available 24/7, this and other hotels attract particular crowds that look for intimacy and a temporary refuge from daily troubles. Predominantly in their 50s, these women are forced to spend hours in front of the hotels, waiting for clients to come. Nowadays, areas like this dramatically stand out against the high-tech contemporary Bangkok, granting unaware passersby with a unique glimpse of the real and often miserable life of the poor residents of this area.

"Attratto da tutto quello che è contraddizione, ideali e caduta, peccato e redenzione, desiderio di innalzarsi spiritualmente e bisogno di assaporare no in fondo il peccato. In perenne con itto e sospeso in una ambivalenza emotiva. Ecco l’ispirazione alla bellezza, paradisi arti ciali, il “diverso” in generale, un mondo sfuggente fatto di richiami. La noia combinata all’insoddisfazione. Eternamente bisognoso d’amore. Sono i sentimenti più comuni, la fede religiosa, la famiglia, la dolcezza dell’infanzia, i ori, il cimitero, le cose che attraggono. Come la sincera visione di una disperata condizione esistenziale." (Gabriele Alongi)