Images Recreate Ulysses' Odyssey in New Photo Exhibition

In "The Tribulations of Ulysses," a photography exhibition at Galerie ArTypique in Carouge, Switzerland, contemporary images are used to reinterpret Homer's epic poem.

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We will send them forgetfulness of the murder of their sons and brothers, and they will love each other as before, in peace and abundance.

Photographers and documentary photojournalists Juliette Robert, Pierre Vassal, Hugo Aymar, Anthony Micallef, and Matthieu Zellweger collaborated with exhibition curator Alice Santinelli. Santinelli selected images from their work, using the figure of Ulysses as a connecting thread to create a narrative mosaic.

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Alone, he wandered on the fish-filled sea...

The exhibition juxtaposes diverse photographs, such as a refugee camp in Belgrade, twilight in Kinshasa, and a Paris square gathering. A portrait of a woman evokes Circe, while sheep recall the cyclops's cave, and a stadium in Phnom Penh symbolizes Ithaca's agora. These images poetically suggest the epic without literal depiction.

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Is she a Goddess or a mortal?

Each photograph is paired with a quote from Charles-Marie Leconte de Lisle's 1893 translation of Homer's Odyssey. These quotes replace the original captions, freeing the photographs from their immediate context and integrating them into a broader story. Santinelli, who was inspired by stories her father told her, aims to evoke the spirit of the ancient epic through these evocative pairings.

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Tell me, man of many turns...