Knowing her friend’s appetite for rough-hewn landscape and the minutia of family networks, Aisling Farinella invited acclaimed photographer Linda Brownlee to visit her relatives in the Italian village of Gangi.
This was to be the first of numerous trips, and 3 years later the resulting photo book, entitled I Zii, has just been released. The family are presented to us in relaxed portraits and candid shots that criss-cross households and generations. Daily and seasonal rituals are shared as birthday candles are blown out, graves are tended and local asparagus is charred. We accompany Brownlee as she journeys through the surrounding landscape via ruptured roads, foggy elevations and paths carpeted with over-ripe fruit. She has the advantage of observing from the periphery of course, but it is undoubtedly her tender curiosity that brings us around the mountain, down the winding village streets and through the front door.
I Zii by Linda Brownlee with accompanying text by Aisling Farinella, is published by by EightyOne Books, in a first edition of 350 copies. Find out more here.
