Mental journey
It were the moments that made me feel like I belonged instead of being a tourist.
Interview with Talisa Lallai
Take us on a journey in mind. What do we see? What do we perceive?
In spring, steep cliffs, a palm grove, orange juice and lots of cats on Crete. In summer, coarse sand and moving sea, staghorn sumac tress by the roadside and granita made from prickly pears in Calabria. In autumn, avenues of chestnut trees, wide fields, crane migration and crumble cake in Brandenburg. In winter, frozen lakes, spruce forests, Kaiserschmarrn and open fires in South Tyrol.
What are your most beautiful and precious travel memories?
My most defining travel memories were those that took place during the off-seasons: The moments that made me feel like I belonged instead of being a tourist.
What does wanderlust mean to you?
Wanderlust for me is the longing for a place that is unreachable at that moment. This can be a familiar place, like my home country Italy, which I miss between two summers, as well as the longing for an unreachable distance, like the jungle in South America or an island in the middle of the Pacific.
And what exoticism?
Something far away, unreachable, of which I have an idea rather than an actual image in my mind. This idea manifests itself through different impressions from travelogues and old photographic material, but also through botanical gardens that present exotic plants as artificially created ecosystems – an idea of what exoticism might look like.
Biography
- * 1989 in Frankfurt am Main
- Studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 2009–2016
- Lives in Düsseldorf
- In her new publication AUTOSOLE, Lallai chose the historic route of the Grand Tour as the starting point for her photographic research. The book is available in the museum store.
