MÉLAINA CHOLÉ
Cristiano Volk
Mélaina Cholé, from Ancient Greek μέλας (melas), and χολή (kholé), is a photographic exploration of humoral theory conceived by Hippocrates. This theory explained physical and psychological health or illness in terms of the state of balance or imbalance of various bodily fluids. According to Hippocrates (5th century bce), health was a function of the proper balance of four humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. Volk, in particular, focuses on black bile, described as a cold and dry fluid, generated by the archetype of the earth.
Within the book, we find images of the planet earth seen from space, of human body cells, and of people's faces following the theory of physiognomy of the time. Humoral theory provided psychology with its earliest personality typology, and Hippocrates’ ideas prevailed well into the 17th century. Extensive traces of this hegemony survive in modern language: the heart was indicated as the seat of feelings and in particular of love which, poetically, is "breath of life"; Melancholia is a feeling of sadness but also a serious form of depression.
The same depression that, according to recent studies, will be the most widespread disease in the world in 2030.
Released February 2020
Photographs by Cristiano Volk
Design by Federico Barbon
Hardcover, 8 x 6 inches
64 pages + 2 posters
Edition of 500
ISBN: 978-1-949608-15-1
Trade Edition: $40.00
About Cristiano Volk
Cristiano Volk is an Italian photographer (Trieste, 1987) who lives and works in a small town called Staranzano in northeastern Italy. After a short period of study at Spazio Labo’ in Bologna, he worked with artists such as Massimo Mastrorillo and Federico Clavarino. In addition, he attended several workshops with Antonio Xoubanova, Ricardo Cases, Anouk Kruithof, Jason Fulford, Max Pinckers, Milo Montelli, Fosi Vegue, Aleix Plademunt and Martin Kollár. In 2017, he received the Slideluck Gazebook Jason Fulford Award and was shortlisted for the FUAM Dummy Book Award.