travelling ghost
personal thoughts on over-tourism.
I want to tell you about this place we went to in Italy.
I want to tell you how a part of me wanted to rise with breeze and whip through its streets like a laughing child. I want to tell you how I actually tiptoed through its alleyways, whispering my wonder into the air, thanking the bones of the place for everything they carried.
Slowly, I strolled the streets when the city was sleeping and washed in a deep gold haze. I felt like a ghost of shadow and old light. I wanted to be invisible. To travel as air, feeling everything yet treading so lightly that I was incapable of leaving a mark.
I want to tell you about this place but the place doesn’t need me to.
What do we do about over-tourism?
I have sympathy for locals and I have also been the person arriving, looking, photographing, falling in love. So I know that I am fully standing inside the thing I am trying to understand and I see no clear solution. I think about the responsibility of people who tell the stories of places that are struggling with overflowing streets and disheartened residents and I am questioning my own role in this uncomfortable exchange.
I feel protective of places, though I am still learning what that means. Maybe it means that I must learn to stay quiet. To keep secrets. To spill only to the people who feel it too. Other traveling ghosts.
As some one not in a position to travel much right now, I'm grateful for your sharing of these observations and images of such a beautiful place...
Somehow, I feel like what matters most is how we experience a journey... any journey, not just travel. It is about the impact we have. Not only on what is around us, but also on who. I suppose that is a bit of what you describe as by being protective of places?
Since its opening in 2018, Oodi (THE Helsinki library) has become a tourist magnet. It was always intended to be that way, I guess, justifying its taxpayer-funded costs. It showcases what a public space, mostly free to use, can be like. For locals, it is definitely more than just a library. It is a space where you have access to tools, sewing machines, vinyl cutters, guitars, video games, photo and recording studios, and more, that many people would not be able to afford. It is a meeting ground, a place to share lunch, to sit and play chess, a kids’ playground, and yes, a place to borrow books. It is fascinating, I understand. It is more than a library for many. Recently, Oodi’s employees must have faced complaints. The influx of tourists marching through (and the library is by no means a silent place), the constant interruptions, the endless "quick clicks" of people photographing others without asking, it has led to several large posters being hung up, asking visitors to limit photography and, well, to avoid interrupting people at work. I have noticed the tourist guides repeating the words from the posters as well. Finding a compromise for everyone to 'be'.
Being present and preserving that presence is a beautiful way for many to process what they have experienced. And that does happen very often in form of photographs. Yasumi, I feel that the photographs you are sharing, reflect something the locals might experience as well <3