Sunburn, Snapshots and Souvenirs

Joëlle Linden sees tourists as a 300-year-old, global, migrating tribe. They evolved from explorers, eager to discover the unknown, into spectators travelling to find what they already expected and, more importantly, document it. Joelle compared their symbols, rituals and handicrafts to various tribes, and found them not so different. The sunburn patterns are a form of body art, the souvenirs they collect are like artefacts and the compulsive urge to make photographs is a tribal ritual. In fact, tourists have become more authentic and genuine in their behavior than the cultures they visits. So why not market their identity and sell their own artefacts in a tourist shop?