“SUSPENDED BETWEEN PAST & PRESENT”

“In a land where there are neither high-speed railways nor modern highways, time seems to stand still, measured by the traces of a rural way of life that endures despite the passing years and continues to shape collective identity. Once you leave the freeway, an infrastructure that separates the world of progress from an ancestral reality, the landscape begins to grow more barren. The fallow fields bear the unmistakable hues of a land scorched by the sun and swept by the southern sirocco. Even though it is a region surrounded by the sea, the inland areas of Puglia rely on an aqueduct from Basilicata for their water supply, revealing an apparently paradoxical contradiction. These parched, abandoned lands are tinged with dull shades that stand in stark contrast to the green of the olive trees, a thousand-year-old symbol of this land, now decimated by the Xylella bacterium. One is surrounded by abandoned farmhouse and remnants of agricultural labor, forming a kind of archaeology of the territory. Upon arriving at the town, immersed in an order crystallized in the past, low-slung houses open directly onto the streets, creating a sense of community and closeness. Through this photographic project, I have sought to capture the duality of rural Salento, a landscape that speaks of resilience and identity. The Salentine countryside, with its austere beauty and contradictions, is a place that invites us to reflect on the relationship between humanity, the land, and time.“

Portfolio special mention at the “Urbanautica Institute Awards 2024” call in the category “Anthropology and Territories”.