Stone Money
video

Yap Guatemala

Stone Money is a parable on the symbolic value of money. The voice of Fabian Nji Lang accompanies a long series of photographs with the story of the stone money of Yap island, an atoll of Micronesia where neither work nor money exist. “Stone money” can only be earned, but cannot be spent, it does not have an ornamental nor a devotional purpose and its value depends solely on the value shown by the men who went to get it on another distant
island, risking their lives. None of the images were shot on Yap. They are photos created over a very long period of time, in the West, of people alone or in a group, in the act of handling money, of obtaining objects of desire (food, drugs, love, adventure) or of awaiting a reply in the emptiness. All the photographs are attempts at the “translation” of the story and, as happens in monetary transactions, the initial value is never paid out.

concept  ZimmerFrei
voce off  Fabian Nji Lang
durata  5”
anno  2005

group shows
:

26/5/2005
Masai Art Factory
Assab One, Milano
a cura di Roberto Pinto e Gabi Scardi

festival screenings:

19 ottobre 2008
Doc under30
Sala Truffaut, Modena

28 novembre 2008
L’immagine, il movimento – Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma
Auditorium Parco della Musica, Roma
a cura di Bruno di Marino