The Lost Holidays
Take a walk down a narrow cobbled street, look up at washing blowing outside shuttered windows, squeeze a lemon on a tree - and marvel at the rows of striped parasols on the beach.
This evocative collection of images, curated from Gemma Taylor’s extensive collection of 35mm slides, were taken on holiday in the Med, mostly by British holidaymakers in the 1970s.
Take a deep breath in, smell the salty sea air, and breathe out slowly, thinking of the dolce vita…
The complete package (holiday)
The Lost Holidays are a joyful collection of photos taken around the time the UK joined the EU, which along with more affordable travel, saw package holidays to ‘the Med’ soar. A week of sun, sand and sea could be had for £25pp - around £300 in today’s money.
Curated from thousands upon thousands of found slides, the collections within the collection include: narrow streets, white cars, smart men, smoking, reading, flares, pink flowers, parasols - which you see above - and many more.
Over time, Gemma, is turning these into online collections, exhibitions and books.
The intention: To share that sensuous holiday feeling through collective memories and cherish these found moments. Although the images are decades old, the same holiday associations remain strong today - it’s less about nostalgia and more about the typology of a holiday that we all recognise and love - both then and now.
