Giorgia Fiorio. Legio patria nostra.

Marval, Paris 1996. 29 x 29 cm. 108 S. Gebunden mit Schutzumschlag.- In, Legio Patris Nostra, Fiorio photographs the men as they struggle through survival training and rescue maneuvers that at times seem more like torture than a fitness regiment. Using 6X6 square format camera, her photos alternate between being straight portraits and moving through the obstacles with her subjects. The photos taken on the fly, in my opinion, are her strength.- The book is structured so that when we first meet our group of legionnaires, they are emerging from water training (wet behind the ears). We follow their torturous training and daily routines and end with a few images of them as they awkwardly navigate their way through their adopted landscapes and mix with the locals. These photos are very few in number and thankfully so as Fiorio is as much an apparent spectacle as the white capped legionnaires. The locals stare like deer with Fiorio’s flash in their faces.