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Pathos

The photographs are fragments of an intimate and personal journey

Pathos
PHOTO BOOKS

Pathos

€55.00



  • Author/Photographer: Giorgio Negro
  • Publisher: Bazan Photo Publishing
  • Design Layout: Kevin Sweeney
  • Text: Giorgio Negro, Ernesto Bazan
  • Literary Quotes: José Maria Arguedas, Franz Kafka, Mia Couto, Erri De Luca, AcciónPoética
  • Press: EBS, Editoriale Bortolazzi STEI (San Giovanni Lupatoto, VE, Italia)
  • Print: 1000 Esemplari
  • Technique:Offset Duotone su carta GardaPat Kiara
  • Published:02.04.2019
  • ISBN: 978-0-9798303-8-9
  • Content: 59 Fotografie in bianco e nero

"Pathos" is my first photo book and was published in May 2019. It is an emotional journey through the black and the white, the light and the shadow, the sweetness and the violence of a continent as fascinating as it is ambiguous: Latin America.

The book was produced in collaboration with 2 friends: Ernesto Bazan, who supervised all the work, selected the images, put together the sequence of images and made his name available as editor; Kevin Sweeney designed the entire graphic portion of the book. Offset printing at EBS was entirely self-financed. The book consists of fifty-nine images taken over 15 years in five Latin American countries (Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador). About 80% of the photographs are analog, the rest are digital.

The photographs are fragments of an intimate and personal journey. They represent my vision in the face of the ambiguities and contrasts of the Latin American continent. This view is strongly influenced by my professional experience: I have been a Delegate to the International Committee of the Red Cross for more than 20 years and have worked in many war zones. I faced violence, human cruelty and its consequences on a daily basis. The photos were taken during my free time or during my holidays, i.e. away from the crisis areas where I worked. However, the book is imbued with the duality of Good-Evil, which is always sharpened during war and which I experienced firsthand. For me, the photographic process has become a "rediscovery" of the world through a critical lens: one that allows one to see the coexistence of good and evil everywhere and in every human being (often metaphorically). But without pessimism or moral judgments. Just as a fact. I have seen violence where there seemed to be peace and found poetry where there should have been only pain. Without any journalistic or documentary objective, I limited myself to meeting people, animals and the environment, always seeking an empathic contact with the subjects of my photos. I photographed what caught my eye. No images were staged, they were just snapshots, even if sometimes they were the result of long waits and even longer conversations.

I started taking pictures in 2005, initially without a defined goal, and then more selectively. After 15 years I felt the need to give a framework and meaning to my photographic work: the publication of the book "Pathos" was a very important editorial and emotional process for me. It was like looking back and becoming aware of what I had gone through to elaborate my experiences of being close to the dark, but also to the bright side of the human being.