A sunday morning. I was outside for a big breakfast with my Dear. We were both reading the newspaper behind our sunglasses. We were laughing about the front page, I went through the pages rapidly as usual and then I came across this.
" Asmara Dream "
" Ce livre est né du désir d’évoquer, par des images de détails urbains, d’intérieurs et quelques portraits, l’atmosphère caractéristique d’Asmara, la capitale de l’Erythrée. Réalisées entre 2006 et 2008 avec un appareil Polaroid SRL 690, mes photos insistent sur l’idée d’une suspension du temps et de l’histoire, entre un passé colonial, qui a laissé des traces profondes sur la physionomie de la ville, et un présent qui semble immobilisé dans une attente sans fin. "
Marco Barbon was born in Rome in 1972. He works and lives in Paris.
After a PhD in Aesthetics of Photography he has worked as a photoeditor for Magnum Photos, Paris.
He now spends his time working for editorial and photographic projects.
The "Asmara Dream" series were made in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Marco Barbon explained that when he was in Asmara it was like being in a dream. Where things have a different rythm, the people are more abstract like suspended in time.
This is definitely what I thought when I saw his work. An impression to discover a familiar past, a familiar feeling, like an old dream, a blurry dream, full of old memories and secrets. So universal.
It definitely had a "coup de coeur" for this work. It doesn't happen to me very often. But when it happens, IT'S GREAT.
The book is available : Asmara Dream. Photographs by Marco Barbon, Postcart / Filigranes, Rome / Paris, 2009 .
I want to thank Marco, he has been utterly sweet and gentle. Grazie !
