WWI The First World War. The Sacrarium of Redipuglia in Italy where died more than 100.000 soldiers.
When I was child I was been in the Carso area. But I had only a flebile memory of the trenches.
So in the 2016 I come back to visit the Redipuglia Sacrarium. This Sacrarium, like all monuments of this kind, is full of politics and military rhetoric. It was build during the fascism period in order to strengthen the regime. Today, after 100 years, I give you, with 8 shoots my mood.
The first 4 colored photos are a jump in the past, 100 years ago, the last soldier’s glance before death, a second after being hit. The image of a daily object or simply a little part of that.
The second series, in black and white, is my tribute to more than 100.000 men that died in the Carso area. It’s a tribute without rhetoric. It’s raw, it’s moved, it’s confused, it’s shaked like life in the trenches.
Remain the lines that guide the sight, a summary of essential geometries.
The names of died soldiers, unreadable in my photos, become a large human presence. Small defenseless sand grains.
Little War is the title of the poem I wrote after the visit. I can’t translate it in english, sorry! I hope you like it also in italian! You can found it after the gallery, in the bottom of this page!
Piccola guerra - scritta il 4 settembre 2016 dall'autore
granelli di sabbia che salgono un colle
spinti dall’odio fraterno
siamo una memoria persa
un buco nei ricordi di oggetti cancellati
quegli stracci logori quei berretti quelle urla
rotoliamo al vento e all’acqua saltando
dentro e fuori una buca
inseguiamo linee immaginarie di ferro
e spari avanti a noi
siamo soli
il respiro è un orologio al termine
disciolti nella follia