In this series, I went back to a place of high importance in my life, a place I somehow feel belonging to. It is situated in the very south of Italy, and its name is Salento; I’ve been going there at least once every year of my life. A pure land with a distinct earthy smell, raw and untouched landscapes, and miles and miles of olive trees fields. As a child, I would be quietly sitting at the back of my dad’s car, constantly looking out of the window car, admiring the myriads of the different and strange shapes these trees could form. A journey for the eyes and the senses. In the last three years, this journey has changed quite dramatically; most of these beautiful trees are dying. A bacteria called Xylella is slowly exterminating the millions of olive trees in Puglia, causing a considerable change in the landscape of the territory. My journey for the eyes and the senses has changed too. It took a more melancholic and sadden feeling, which somehow fits my photographic vision perfectly. I perceive this photographic series as a dark and abstract journey, my way of seeing this pure and beautiful land.

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About

I am a photographer from Italy and based in Berlin for almost five years. Film photography opened an entire new world to me some years ago. Since then, it was an escalation of experimenting and trying out new things, new mediums and new techniques. Some of my favourite experimentations are negative manipulations, burning and distorting instant prints, controversial developing processes, and cyanotypes prints. I believe in the skill of photography as a vital part of the process which makes out the final resulting images. Experimenting in photography is a never-ending journey in which one can only learn and discover unknown possibilities by embracing the unexpected.