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 168 pages, 6x9 inches, perfectbound 40 black and white photos, full color cover (shown above) ISBN 0-9739466-3-6 $25 paperback Front cover photograph by Ole Westby More information and media: ¶ Hugo Redivo Photographic Art Gallery ¶ The Editor, Harold Rhenisch ¶ Kelowna & District Arts Council ¶ Penticton Western News |
An Okanagan Photographer's Journey A soldier in the Italian Army who never fired a shot from his rifle, even in practice, and never saw a single dead or injured body during the length of the Second World War, Hugo Redivo, translator, diplomat, and baker, immigrated to Penticton, B.C. in 1949. ¶ "I won the war," says Hugo Redivo. "I survived." ¶ He did more than survive. He fundamentally helped to shape British Columbia. After working as a fruit-picker, baker, cement worker and plasterer, he became one of Canada's premier photographers, winning countless international awards, heading the Professional Photographers of Canada, and photographing the Italian Cultural Institute's exhibition for Expo 86 in Vancouver. His portrait and scenic photographs continue to appear in one-man and group shows in British Columbia. ¶ Above all, Casa Miralago is a love story told by "Lucky Hugo," a man remarkably skilled at transforming himself by seizing the positive opportunities provided by changing circumstances. In 1947, the young Italian diplomat Hugo Redivo and his fiancée Dorothy Vögeli holidayed on the Isle of Capri in the Bay of Naples. Out of the images of that journey and his exposure to visual art in Italy were born the photographic images of the Okanagan Valley for which Hugo has been nationally famous and which have become central to B.C.'s identity. ¶ Here is Hugo's story, from near-starvation in the German countryside after World War I to discovery of love and family, and finally a discovery of home in a new and unforeseen land. ¶ These are the unexpected, and delightful, roots of the Okanagan Valley, and one man's fresh, street-smart, and lyrical journey home. ¶ To read some excerpts, click here (requires registration). ¶ To buy your copies of Casa Miralago, click here. Table of Contents (showing excerpts available online) 1. Only a Labourer 2. The Steel Helmets 3. Chocolate-Covered Pralines 4. Princess Mafalda 5. An Italian Soldier 6. Spies in Kairouan 7. Eighty Cents per Day 8. Swimming With the GI's 9. Gioia 10. The Man from New York 11. You Smell So Funny 12. The Blue Grotto 13. Merry Christmas! 14. The Empress of France 15. An Unexpected Haircut 16. Popular Photography 17. We Immigrated to Canada as Newlyweds - Dorothy's Swiss Articles on Our New Life 18. A Carpenter's Helper 19. O Sole Mio 20. I May be Crazy 21. Home  Published by Lakeside Publishing, Penticton BC
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