http://www.nicolazolin.tk/

This Sunday in The Hague I am going to present a photo exhibition in Foto’Kabinet, thanks to the special support of my friend Lion that offered me for the second time the possibility to exhibit in his special gallery. Among vintage original photographs of the best artists of the history of photography, a series of 20 of my photos will find their space and will try to express the idea of looking at the world with the eyes of a stranger.

Everybody is invited to join the opening this Sunday 27th if you are around i The Hague, The Netherlands.

An interview explaining the idea of making an exhibition showing my world seen with the eyes of a stranger will be soon published on Ideas Magazine.

Vukovar is a city in Eastern Croatia, located at the confluence of the Vuka river and the Danubio, at the boarder with Serbian territory. The town was noted for his picturesque baroque architecture. Vukovar has been for years very multicultural, inhabited by Croatian, Serbians, Russians, Hungarians, Bosnia’s muslim, Jewish, Italians, French, Germans. In 1991 the city was completely devastated during the Croatian war of Independence.

“The town had for months warded off the JNA-supported Serbmilitary attacks on the city. 2,000 self-organised defenders (the army of Croatia was still in an embryonic stage at that time) defended the city for approximately 87 days against approx. 36 000 JNA (Serbian) troops aided with 110 vehicles and tanks, and dozens of planes when it was eventually overrun, with the city destroyed almost beyond recognition. It is estimated that 2,000 defenders of Vukovar and civilians were killed, 800 went missing and 22,000 civilians were killed or forced into exile.” (from Wikipedia)

The city was undoubtedly the most destroyed town in the conflict in that far 1991. Vukovar was considered a strategic objective for the Serbs-dominated Yugoslavian army. Nothing but ruins remained after the object was achieved by the troops.

Interesting to see is the demographic aspect of the city. Between 1945 it grows increasingly quickly due to the industrial development. After the war however, more than half of the city’s population never return back. Today you can still see around the city plenty of abandoned houses, hangars and factories left alone, amongst debris and indifference. From the more than 80000 people living there before 1991, today the populations is adjusted around something more than 30000. These photos have been taken in Summer 2008, in the city center of this “ghost city”.

On my eyes life seems to me to be far away from here. All the people though were living like nothing did never happen and seemed to be used to go to a bar which roof is still destroyed or going to the supermarket, which is based just in front of a still destroyed building.

Vukovar è una città barocca della Slavonia orientale, la regione più a Est della Croazia, situata al centro della contea di Vukovar e della Smirnia. E’ la più grande città di porto croata sulle rive del Danubio, le cui acque la separano dal territorio serbo.

La città diventa il simbolo della guerra in Croazia del 1991, perchè viene presa d’assedio dalle truppe serbe tra l’agosto e il novembre del 1991. Prima del conflitto Vukovar era un crocevia di culture straordinario: si potevano incontrare ungheresi, russi, macedoni, musulmani di Bosnia, ebrei, serbi ortodossi, italiani, tedeschi e francesi. La città era un meraviglioso luogo di incontro, convivenza e tolleranza. Nei quattro mesi di assedio, insieme ad una gran parte della popolazione, scompare la vecchia multiculturalità che la contraddistingueva. I serbi erano, di fatto, diventati i padroni della Federazione Jugoslava sul finire degli anni ’80 e coltivavano il sogno, romanticamente esaltato da Milosevic, di formare una “Grande Serbia”, comprendente tutti i territori nei quali il popolo serbo era presente, anche se in minoranza. Slovenia e Croazia si resero ben presto conto del pericolo e di come la situazione interna stava mutando progressivamente. Entrambi i paesi non esitarono ad uscire dalla Lega dei Comunisti Jugoslavi con la quale da tempo erano entrati in contrasti su temi fondamentali come la politica economiaca e la critica situazione in Kosovo, in breve, inoltre,  dichiararono l’indipendenza dal governo federale centrale.

Mentre la situazione in Slovenia si risolveva con una guerra durata soltanto dieci giorni, abilmente combattuta dagli sloveni anche in campo mediatico, per la Croazia la situazione si complica giorno dopo giorno. Il governo e l’esercito filo-serbo non avrebbero mai permesso di far finire dei territori abitati da serbi al di fuori della federazione jugoslava (Krajine e Slavonia).  Per questo nei territori croati abitati anche dai serbi scattarono aspre rivolte e assedi, il più grave dei quali fù appunto quella della città di Vukovar.

La città fu completamente rasa al suolo. la maggior parte degli edifici e delle case furono abbattuti, gli abitanti massacrati.

Diciesette anni dopo il ricordo è ancora vivo, lo si vede facilmente camminato per le strade della città, ora più che mai croata. Le sahovnica,scacchiera croata, si nota pressochè ovunque, dalla bandiera che sventola sopra al vecchio acquedotto diroccato, simbolo della città ferita, alle bandiere più minute nei bar e in alcune case. Vukovar è una città fantasma, molte case e fabbriche che funzionavano in passato sono state abbandonate al loro destino, occupate da alcune piante che hanno cominciato a crescervi al loro interno e piene di cocci derivanti dalla distruzione dei muri e dei tetti.

La popolazione vive come se nulla fosse successo,ma, guardando dentro ad ogni volto, si capisce che non è affatto così. Negli occhi di ognuno dei suoi abitanti si nota il dolore, la stanchezza, la riflessione relativa a terribili giorni che non si possono dimenticare.

Negli sguardi dei bambi che giocano in mezzo alle macerie, lo smarrimento più ingenuo. A volte però mi pare che quell’immagine così violenta, che prova uno straniero come me a visitare quei luoghi, mi mostri una realtà più triste di quello che è invece per tutti quei colori, che hanno imparato a convivere da anni, a fianco di quei buchi procurati da pallottole e a quelle case diroccate e abbandonate.

Hitchhiking back from a forgotten valley we found a couple of fantastic Moroccans which drove us to the main street inside of a small van. They were so curios about us Europeans, it was a beautiful moment of sharing our oneness.

On the same van, making jokes and getting to know each others. Moroccans are wonderful people, you are extremely welcome in their country and they offer you anything you need. Their humanity is not comparable with the one of any other country I knew. I fell in love with their way of being among people, their curiosity and the peace of their souls.

Children in Essaouira, chasing each others.

Jugglers from Mohammedia, attending the Juggling Conference and Encounter in Essaouira.

Child in Tarazouth, dribbling boats to get to the beach.

Children playing football in Tarazhout. Moroccans love football and play it everywhere.

Sunday Morning Essaouira. A normal scene out the street.

Market in Essaouira

Norbert, Famous French Chef in The Hague, The Netherlands. He is clearly posing for me but I just try to emulate the expression he had when, after I rang his bell, he came to look at me through the slot of his door. So, I just wanted to have him back to hat position but he could not stop laughing.

Gementhe Museum, The Hague. An Instant of  Wonder. A woman ask something to the security man. I love her smile while she ask I don’t know which kind of question…

Metz, France. A moment stolen from the street. A glance that points toward an indefinite place. Just one of the multitudes of expressions and emotions we see everyday while walking the streets.

The Hague, The Netherlands. I captured an angel between the books of a Biblioteque. Most of the angel doesn’t know to be as such, and lose their time thinking to be simply human, afraid from their own special essence and light.

Plot: Chihiro goes to Bolivia to learn from indigenous people, activists and President Morales to be a better ancestor, living in harmony with nature. Afterwards she translates these insights to Dutch culture. How?    www.radicalfriends.com

I made some photographs of the first scenes, which represent Chihiro’s realization if how negativity is entrenched into some common habits, such as playing ‘Risk’ and conquering countries by killing the armies of your friends! That’s how everything starts…

This is some of the photos I made for them of the making of:

A Blog about the stories of people, A blog about the realities we just graze but never really explore.

I started this new project in order to share with all the Italian readers the stories of the people I have encountered during my travels, adventures and daily life moments.

The approach of the blog want to me absolutely human, the subject discussed are explored in their depth and an analysis of nowadays society is drawn starting from little situation which are meaningful in their truth.

The name of the blog is CLANDESTINAMENTE, which is a neologism made by the words “clandestina” (clandestine) and “mente” (mind) and can be interpreted also like “clan”, “destina” (destine), “mente” (mind). With this name we wanted to enhance how our mind is very often driven by the conditioning of the society we belong to. Our approach will try to detach itself as much as we can from this conditioning, using an approach will can defined anthropological, the method of the “participant observation”.

This project have been launched some weeks ago by me and my dear friend, sociologist Fabio Azzolin, born in my same small village in Italy, Mason Vicentino, and close soul since the first stage of our childhood.

We invite Italian writers to interact with our subjects and to feel free to share with us their opinion over the topics we discuss, over this world that changes continuously so fast and sometimes we frame it in order to understand it better.

Take your journey on ClanDestina|Mente

www.clandestinamente.it

The Hague. 8 o’clock in the morning. The sky is grey again, when I go down the street I have the impression to have lived five completely identical awakening. But today I am going to France and there is nothing as powerful as hitchhiking to awake the spirit and approach the flow of life. So I reach the entrance of the highway in The Hague and I put my fingers towards the people. It feels strange for me to hitchhike from The Hague, every time I do it, my mind goes back to that day in which I left from this city and I kept hitchhiking till Brazil. Anyway, today is another story and I am going to France to get two awards I won in a photo-contest in Metz. The first car stopped after just some minutes and drives me just some kilometers further, dropping me on a gas station, direction South. It is the perfect place for me, in fact just some minutes after I see an interesting man filling with gas the tank of his Citroen DS, a Goodness let’s say, a dream for car lovers. I obviously go ask him which direction he is going to take and whether or not he can drive me further. Incredibly, he is exactly going to France, not far from my destination, in Champagne, to fill of bottle of the famous French wine his DS and bring them to his Dutch Friends. Some friends of him come right after with another car and c’est partì, we jump on the car and we are in our way to France. Again, it seems so incredible the easiness of traveling with your finger and the unpredictable experiences that this choice generates. For five hours I enjoy dub music seated in the back, so comfortably that I feel like being in a sofa or limousine. The journey goes so well, five hours later I am in Amiens, and in the gas station the fabulous people of the DS drop me out, I suddenly find another man, an engineer working for an energy company, going to the city center of Metz. There I get, after 8 hours of traveling, fantastic people met, lot of shared talks, no money spent and some pictures of the DS, which I really loved, that I present here for your fruition.

2nd prize in category “chiffres”

one of these two won the 3rd prize in category “errance”

Photo-Forum expose à l’Arsenal les photographies du Concours Metz en Fête

A l’occasion de « Metz en Fête », programmation de spectacles gratuits initiée et financée par la Ville de Metz, Photo-Forum, en partenariat ave la Ville de Metz, a organisé son concours photo annuel autour de ces manifestations.

Chaque année, Photo-Forum organise le concours photographique de Metz en Fête, ouvert à tous. Cet été, plus de 400 photographies sur les thèmes : « Les chiffres », « Errance » et « Les toits de Metz » ont été jugées par Gerson Bettencourt, Charlotte Emser-Schaferlee et Nathalie Weyrath. 55 photographes de Lorraine, et d’ailleurs en France, ainsi que de Belgique ont participé au concours.

Plus de 2400 euros de lots ont récompensé les gagnants suivants :

-       Pour le thème « Les chiffres » : 1^er Prix : Roland Kazmierczak, 2^e prix : Nicolas Zolin, 3^e prix : Nadia Michel et Prix Jeune : Ugo Schimizzi

-       Pour le thème « Errance » : 1^er Prix : Alexandre Parrot, 2^e prix : Claude Bour, 3^e prix : Nicolas Zolin et Prix Jeune : Christophe Thomas

-       Pour le thème « Les toits de Metz » : 1^er Prix : Bruno Collin, 2^e prix : Christophe Ferino, 3^e prix : Marylise Bier et Prix Jeune : Ugo Schimizzi

Les 35 meilleures photographies, tous thèmes confondus, seront exposées dans le Grand Hall de l’Arsenal de Metz.

En plus des gagnants, les autres photographes exposés seront : Jean-Pierre Adami, Julien Camuset, Caroline Demouy, Audrey Krommenacker, Bernard Lepley, Michel Tonon, Régine Berlinski, Pierre Gueblez, Priscilla Hapuc, Sébastien Walker, Stephan Alomène, Adeline Bouillet, Emilie Molina et Yannick Varnier.

Le vernissage de l’exposition 2010, ainsi que la remise des récompenses auront lieu le samedi 6 novembre 2010 à 18 heures dans le Grand Hall de l’Arsenal, en présence d’Antoine Fonté, adjoint au maire à la culture et de la Direction de l’Arsenal. L’exposition, libre d’entrée, et se prolongera jusqu’au 21 novembre 2010.

Photo-Forum remercie tous les intervenants de cet événement pour leur investissement : la Ville de Metz, l’Arsenal, les partenaires photographes : Photo Palace et Photo Thiry, les membres du jury et, bien entendu, les nombreux participants.

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Photo-Forum, qui fête ses 30 années d’existence en cette saison, compte plus de 150 membres qui se réunissent tous les vendredis soirs à partir de 20h au Centre socioculturel République à Metz-Sablon. Tout au long de la saison, un programme riche et diversifié est proposé aux membres (et, pour certaines soirées, aux non membres), afin d’ouvrir à tout un chacun le monde de la photographie. De l’initiation à l’analyse d’images, en passant par des sorties de prises de vues, des interventions de photographes professionnels, des cours en studio ou au laboratoire, sans oublier l’organisation de concours, chacun y trouvera de quoi satisfaire sa curiosité et sa pratique photographiques.

Photo-Forum, c’est aussi la mise à disposition (pour les membres) du studio de prises de vues, du laboratoire de tirage et développement argentique, du laboratoire numérique, l’organisation de sorties prises de vues, de week-ends photo, les cours du soir, les animations estivales…

Plus d’informations sur : www.photo-forum.fr

Metz, France. October 16, 2010.High school’s students and labor unions went down the street to protest against the current governmental policy and especially against the law that could potentially shift the retirement age from 60 to 62. The parade lasted about two hours, moving from the central station to the Place de la Prefeture.