Other World’s Souvenirs

From the silver-colored plastic Eiffel tower
and the synthetic alabaster of Venus de
Milo, to the hand of last African gorilla and
enemy scalp in northern America, souvenirs
are looked upon as monsters-literally and
aesthetically. Grotesque visual souvenirs
in art-shops and tourist bauble stacked on
bookshelves of art-loving sightseers – private
collections of questionable aesthetics. The
under-exposed photograph of the tourist
posing before a historical sight is most frequent
«was here» souvenir. The sightseer
wearing breeches- in the background, the
Colossus of Rhodes, decorate a personal album,
in the same way that the regular sergeant
stands before a humiliated Iraqi prisoner
in Baghdad. 13 Photographers balance
between humor and seriousness, creating
their own souvenirs.