Alicudi

ALICUDI

by PAOLA PIVI

In 1999 Martin McGeown of Cabinet Gallery asked me, because I’m Italian, to organize a summer holiday in Italy for a small group of his friends. His ideal was a villa with a swimming pool, drinks served all day long. In those days this kind of holiday couldn’t be farther from my ideal. So I tried to get into something that would satisfy me as well. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan had talked about the Eolian Islands. And I had once been on Lipari, a deserted Christmas day, where after a dose of lariam I had a poltergeist night in the only hotel still open. But photographer Armin Linke showed me videos of Alicudi, where I decided the Martin McGeown group and I would spend two weeks.

Photo Hugo Hlendinning

After those two weeks we all seemed to suffer from light deprivation. Something…