CATANIA – On tiptoe in the lives of others. To stop the memory of places, to “save” the memory of abandoned places, indeed to witness their decadence.
“I’ve always had a passion for sneaking into unknown places since I was a child – remember Carlo Arancio, student of Architecture -. The first time I entered an abandoned noble residence I was 16, and so much was the emotion that over the years I often went back to it, to realize that every time it was getting worse. The initial 30 rooms were starting to be fewer and fewer due to the collapses, so I told myself that I had to photograph them, before there was nothing left ».
Thus was born – seven years ago – the “Sicily in decay” project, a journey through uninhabited Sicilian houses, villas and country houses, stages of a photographic journey matured over time.
“At first I photographed with my mobile phone, then I switched to SLR, but in reality I did not have a structured project in mind, I was only driven by the idea of giving justice to the memory of these places”.
A fascination born of architectural firms?
«I discovered late that I don’t want to be an architect, I’m not interested in designing the new one, if anything, recovering what is there. I have a much more emotional than technical approach to architecture. Sometimes, when I see a restored building on the one hand I am happy because it is coming back to life, on the other I am not because the traces of time that I like so much are erased ».
So is it the allure of decay?
“Yup. I like everything that expresses a story and in architecture it is very easy to read it. We see stratifications, successive interventions, forms or elements placed in time … ».
An architect-archaeologist …
«If desired, yes. Yes you can say that, but if you are thinking of industrial archeology, no. Factories do not interest me much, they are not in my heart, what I like to tell is a way of life and a culture, the Sicilian one of the past, which no longer exists. Who would sleep in an alcove today? Nobody, only the baron of 150 years ago did it ».
So the photo “freezes” that time, without wanting to be an invitation to the recovery of these places …
«It depends, each place has its own“ personality ”. For some places I hope so, for others it is difficult for me to imagine it. An abandoned Art Nouveau building, in the city center, has much more chances of coming back to life than a villa in the same style lost in the countryside without even a driveway, in this case it is now a “dead” architecture and for me when architecture dies it becomes a monument to itself it no longer needs a function, only beauty remains, which will become one with nature and this is what I’m mostly looking for ».
Are photographic blitzes inside these houses always “quiet”?
“Good and bad things have happened to me, however I am very careful. If I go in, I do it because it’s easy to do. Let it be clear that this is an illegal practice, abandonment does not exist, an owner is always there, even when the doors are totally open, there are no fences, creepers grow inside and pigeons party in the salons. I enter but I don’t “invade” these places, I rarely carry a backpack with me, only a tripod and a camera, so anyone who sees me knows I’m not there to steal, I “steal” only images. Some rude caretaker kicked me out badly, but generally, they let it go. There is also a component of shame, sometimes the owner does not let you in because he does not care to show the conditions in which he holds the property, it is not a boast. This is also why I never say where the places I photograph are, I don’t like to put people in a bad light and I would like to prevent others from going there with other intentions ».
A place of the heart?
«A manor house that despite not having a history of nobility, in the decorations shows a pomp, a virtuosity and almost an aggressiveness of colors that only we Sicilians can invent. Inside the architecture and the paintings speak to me. Or the terrana house of a family still with all the furniture, objects, clothes, books. There the micro-history speaks. IS the experience of another era that also invests you through the intimacy of objects, an old DC card, a hanging calendar, a piano with scores, a Savoyard flag, places you not only in time but also within a class ».
What future will these photos have?
«I would like to make an exhibition and books about this Sicily that is slowly disappearing, not only to Sicilians but also abroad where it seduces much more than here. I’m looking for a publisher ».
c.greco@today