SINKING STONE - CRISTIANO VOLK
Cristiano Volk is an Italian documentary photographer who studied at the Spazio Labo’ in Bologna and at the D.O.O.R. Academy in Rome. Though his work Volk presents a critical perspective on social political and cultural issues of our time. So far his interests circulated around the topics of tourism, a melancholia that takes shape of depression, and contemporary consumerism.
Volk is a member of the Millennium Images agency and has already published two books: Sinking Stone (Witty Books) and Mélaina Cholé (Yoffy Press).
His vibrant photographic series ‘Sinking Stone, a mirror on Venice’ shines light onto the historic city of Venice - on one ide a vibrate paradise for tourists, on the other a historic landscape slowly decaying due to the recurring floods.
The constant wave of tourism appears to be a type of a living theatre - a stage full of moments and opportunities to photograph. Drawing on the aesthetics of baroque theatre, sculpture, architecture, and painting, Volk documents the diverse residents inhabiting the city and their surroundings.
Colour in his work, relates to the Venetian pictorial technique of “tonalism” used by painters to achieve depth in their works. The use of flash, limited colour palette, unconventional photographing angles, and overexposed areas all add up to the feeling of illusion and magic.
Sinking Stone, a modern-day Vanitas, shows both sides of Venice – a town immortalised through its history and tourism and a precarious sinking island.