Libya: Inch by Inch, House by House, Alley by Alley

A double portrait of Libya.

The book Libya: Inch by Inch, House by House, Alley by Alley is part of a series of publications about nations at war, or in crisis; conceived by Giovanna Silva, they tell the stories of different countries through photographs of their multifaceted landscapes. In the case of Libya, Silva has attempted to outline the architectural structures built by Muammar al-Gaddafi’s regime that were demolished during the recent revolution. Her journey started from Benghazi—the first epicenter of the revolt, as a city that had always been hostile to Colonel Gaddafi—and culminated in Tripoli, inside the bunker-barrack of Gaddafi’s residence. In this construction and de-construction of Gaddafi’s personality, Silva creates a parallel narrative relying on archival pictures she has collected over the years, depicting everything from a young Gaddafi surrounded by the politicians he did business with for years (who would later turn their backs on him), to images of his death, when he lay bleeding and knocked to the ground just like the architecture that embodied his ideals. The publication includes a conversation between Giovanna Silva and Gaddafi biographer Angelo Del Boca, who knew, inside out, just who the real Gaddafi was.