"INVISIBLE CITIES" - ITALO CALVINO

- A Dreamlike Exploration of Perception,
Memory, and the Power of Images
-"Invisible Cities" (1972) is a philosophical,
poetic novel disguised as a conversation
between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. Polo
describes imaginary cities that he has
supposedly visited, but as the book
progresses, it becomes clear that these
cities are not real places but reflections on
human experience, memory, and perception.

- The idea that a city is different depending on who looks at it relates to the idea that a photograph’s meaning shifts based on the viewer.

2. "COLLECTION ON SAND" (1984)

- Calvino’s Only Direct Writing on Photography
- “Photography fixes the appearances of things at a
given moment, but this does not mean it explains them.”

- In Invisible Cities, Marco Polo describes cities that can NEVER BE FULLY SEEN OR UNDERSTOOD, mirroring how a photo captures only a fragment of reality.

- In Mr. Palomar (1983), the protagonist is obsessed with observing the world in tiny details, but he realizes that no amount of looking can ever truly grasp the whole.

- This reflects the photographer’s dilemma—no matter how much we document, we never capture everything.