The Aeolian Islands : Sicily's volcanic paradise

Giancarlo Pradelli's idea of photographing the Aeolian Islands arose from a deep desire to be in direct contact with the sea.

Lipari, Vulcano, Salina, Filicudi, Alicudi, Panarea and Stromboli lie north of Sicily, and are now on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Pradelli chose to depict them in the truthful, transparent light of winter, immersed in an atmosphere of deep peace and silence, accompanied by the sound of the ocean and the disquieting presence of the volcanoes.

The photographs are a personal visual journey rather than a detailed document of the islands.

Pradelli identifies with the essence of the locations, blending with them and expressing their changing moods.

In addition to landscape pictures, he photographed only two people: Turi the fisherman and Angela.

In their simple ways, they encapsulate the essence of life on these small islands.

He employs black-and-white film to capture the geometrical interplay of places and faces, and the contrasts between the whites of the sky, the smoke of the volcanoes, the black of the land and the sea.