“Lupimaris”
Christian Stemper
Photography Exhibition
Paros Bay Hotel, Delphini Beach, Paros
7 June-15 September 2012
In Lupimaris, Christian Stemper shows his work in a series of photographs he has taken of 75 boats and 15 fishermen.
The images conjure up memories of holidays spent in sleepy fishing villages and the sound of the gentle lapping of waves against sun-dried, wooden planks of the boats. At first the viewer may be drawn by the pretty colours and the innumerable small objects on the boat, but eventually will be confronted by the current relevance and function of the small boat and its operator.
Through this work, Stemper draws attention to a social and cultural phenomenon that, as a result of a incorrect EU policies on subsidies and modernisation in favour of larger companies and fleets, the image of the individual fisherman and his boat is slowly disappearing.
The photographer allows the viewer a perspective usually seen in technical drawings and planar images, the artificially induced darkening of the background removes the subject from its natural environment and takes the boat out of the water, so to speak. By ‘dry-docking’ the boat the subject is assigned a new place and image, both idealised and conserved. The water is gone and it leaves the actors free from their natural environment and original purpose as remnants and witnesses of a dying culture, transforming them into icons.
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Samples of some beautiful wild flowers of this Greek Island.
Cooking recipes from Alice Meyer-Wallace's Cookbook.
Mary Godfrey's humourous illustrations of life in Paros Island.
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