When I started to work on these photographs, I set out to create poetry, playing with the dramatic contrasts between light and darkness. I wanted to explore the relationship between my emotions and my surroundings. Was my mood prompted by the bleak landscapes of winter, or was my perception coloured by feelings which had their roots elsewhere?Setting out alone in this isolated terrain I at first felt out of place, like a tourist or a foreigner, but over time, returning several times to the same places, it was as though the mountain itself was waiting for me, and with it the clouds, the snow, the fog, the wind. It seemed to me that the curtain parted and I was a lone spectator. I had the overwhelming desire to read, to find writings by people who might have been affected in the same way. I searched for writers and poets from the area and those who had drawn their inspiration from it. I noticed that some pieces I came across appeared to be descriptions of the images I had already captured and so I no longer felt alone in these sentiments. Prompted by the images, my visual prose of Abruzzo, I discovered that they, like me, at a certain point in their lives had had the need, the urgency, to express similar emotions aroused by this awe-inspiring land.
It is an unfamiliar Abruzzo, misty and frozen, composed of chiaroscuro contrasts and bursts of intense light, only seen during the coldest and most stormy days. At times I needed to wait for long periods with my camera and my tripod in the freezing north wind for a ray of sunlight, a cloud, or for the fog to lift from the valley below. Working in these conditions was not always easy but was unavoidable if I wanted to provoke an emotion.
Since I took these pictures the earthquake in Italy has rocked these mountains, largely destroying L'Aquila and many surrounding villages. My experience that night has added another layer to my perception of the work - a darker, deeper side of which I wasn't entirely aware, just as I was not yet aware of the tremors already shaking the foundations of the land. After this personal journey I hope to have captured the spirit of Abruzzo, now even more precious to me.
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