Gigi Cifali

Born in Naples in 1975, Gigi Cifali is a photographer based in Milan and London, where he earned a Master’s degree in Photojournalism from the University of Westminster. He has been awarded several times and his works were selected to receive, among others: AOP Photographers Awards (Association of Photographers), IPA International Photography Awards Lucie Foundation Awards, Fuji Photo Awards, Calumet Assistant Photo Awards, London Photographic Association – Photography Competition. Finalist of the François Schneider Foundation Competition ‘Contemporary Talents 2012’, the “Absence of Water” series has been acquired for its Collection dedicated to the meeting of art and water.

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Absence of Water

100 x 100 cm / 50 x 50 cm, C-print Fuji Matt Crystal archive paper, © 2006 – 2014

Absence of Water is a photographic project which documents the state of decay of some baths, pools and lidos in the United Kingdom. They were places in vogue, fundamental for the life till the thirties of XX Century. Gradually, living conditions and tastes have changed, resulting in a drop of attendances, leaving the public pools uneconomical to run. Symbols of civic and architectural pride in Victorian times, today only a handful of them remain as a representation of bygone era. The project gives us the possibility to reflect on water: on its function and the importance it has for man and society development and growth. Water determines the wealth, it is indispensable to live and its lack inexorably leads to ruin, exactly as happened to these pools. These architectures, trough their charm, show us the time irreversible action, the ruin, the sense of emptiness that surrounds and fills them. Yet they are testimony and memory of a not too far age, when they were places full of voices and laughter and the beating heart of life.

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To view more of Gigi’s photographs, please visit their website.