CROWDED SEASIDE AMORE
SECOND CHAPTER / Mass tourism on the coast
From the long-term project "and when you look closely"
After spending the winter months on the Spanish Balearic coast intensively researching climate change in coastal areas, its causes and effects and the role of humans in it, I decided to travel to Rimini during the high season to research the origins of mass tourism.
The desire for relaxation by the sea, fresh fish, sun, and sand for the whole family first developed there in the 1950s due to the emerging economic boom and the emergence of a new middle class. Due to the low tides, more than half of Italy‘s coastline is now built up near the coast and financially dependent on annual tourism. What once began in Rimini is continuing on a gigantic scale in coastal regions around the world.
I photographed not only with my digital camera but also with an Aqua Click. One of the first 6x6 medium-format plastic cameras from the 1950s, it was produced for the broad mass market and proved ideal for vacations, as it was very light and extremely easy to use.
©2022 Anne Gabriel-Jürgens