Casbah
17 images Created 17 Oct 2012
After a hard childhood and youth marked by parental abandonment, French born Cristian Lombardi, former gravedigger and soldier in the South Pacific, got to a country he did not know at all, Bolivia, where he started a career as press photographer.
He married a Bolivian girl, had two children, covered with his camera the ups and downs of a handful of governments that, in many cases, were expelled from office well before the end of their terms.
But at one point Cristian felt that his press work became meaningless. "Was this what I wanted? To feed the global propaganda machine?" he asked himself.
. Not at all.
Faithfull to his style honest and sharp, Cristian decided a radical change in his life style.
It was not easy. Economic problems worsened while divorcing from his wife. He lived a long time at friends. Tried many jobs and saw life from other angles.
Finally the worse part was over . He got a girl friend and ventured with her into designing hats. Cristian managed to rent a small and Spartan house in a suburb of La Paz .
Maybe to proof that photography is in his own essence , during days of loneliness and depression , he made a photo essay about that house. A house like thousands. Anonymous and lost in a hillside around La Paz city.
We show here a part of that brilliant and talented work he called Casbah.
He married a Bolivian girl, had two children, covered with his camera the ups and downs of a handful of governments that, in many cases, were expelled from office well before the end of their terms.
But at one point Cristian felt that his press work became meaningless. "Was this what I wanted? To feed the global propaganda machine?" he asked himself.
. Not at all.
Faithfull to his style honest and sharp, Cristian decided a radical change in his life style.
It was not easy. Economic problems worsened while divorcing from his wife. He lived a long time at friends. Tried many jobs and saw life from other angles.
Finally the worse part was over . He got a girl friend and ventured with her into designing hats. Cristian managed to rent a small and Spartan house in a suburb of La Paz .
Maybe to proof that photography is in his own essence , during days of loneliness and depression , he made a photo essay about that house. A house like thousands. Anonymous and lost in a hillside around La Paz city.
We show here a part of that brilliant and talented work he called Casbah.