In the La Isla (The Island) project Marco Ferraris, an artist of Genoese origin, has combined photography, poetry and video, collaborating with over 100 performers from many different countries and all connected to the same island, Ibiza. They were asked to get in touch with their true self through their personal expressions and according to their skills and knowledge.
Numerous direct or indirect references from cinema, painting, literature and dance. The natural evolution of this self-financed project has led to its division into five chapters: El Origen, Mitos Submarinos, El Vinculo, El Circulo y El Hijo. In the first book of the El Origen series, the protagonists are different women in an authentic and primordial contact with the four elements of nature.
The element of the nude lives within a symbolic cycle of images that recall icons of birth and death, thus emphasizing the mystery of life. The texts that accompany the powerful images of Ferraris are written by his father, Giancarlo Ferraris, poet and psychotherapist.
In the assembly and final design of the book, carried out by the graphic designer Daniel Naveira, the photographs and the elements of the colors are born from the same images creating an abstract painting. The second chapter, Mitos Submarinos, and also the final part of the video-art have been made totally underwater as if it were an embryonic and necessary state of evolution.
The island is a symbolic microcosm that contains the whole world. In the whole La Isla series there is no reference to what was created by man with the idea of creating the archetypal image of an ‘; original island, a utopian place where it is possible to rediscover the connection with nature. Whether it’s a pristine beach or an ancient tree or a spectacular rock wall, it invites the viewer to discover new sensations in a continuous perceptive game in which lights and shadows mix to create a new scenario.
It highlights a way of relating to nature that has been lost in our civilization: by showing the bodies in their nakedness, humans are stripped of the veil of modern society and can connect with the original state of being: they find freedom through the acceptance of the body and avoiding the fear that prevails in our society.