A matter of layers is a project on stratification, on the possibility of interaction between the photographic process and the natural elements characteristic of a place. To experiment with this approach, I worked on the island of Favignana (Sicily), a place characterised by a particular geological conformation: the variation in sea level that submerged the island tens of thousands of years ago during the glaciations created a layer of more than 200 metres of marine sediments, generating a particular rocky conformation.
The extraction of this stone, an efficient building material called 'calcarenite', was the island's main resource until a few decades ago: underground caves, labyrinths and cliffs, which look like gigantic sculptures, now draw an aggressive, dark and spectacular landscape, altered by erosion and the incessant excavation and extraction by man. I therefore worked with the natural and anthropic elements that have transformed this island: just as the land has been altered by wind, sea and erosion on the one hand and rock quarrying on the other, I let these same elements react with the negative films I shot. Calcarenite dust, water and sea salt came into contact with the photographic emulsion, leaving traces of a new landscape, each time in a different and unpredictable way, thus creating a new level of representation, through the documentation of other manifestations of stratification such as the surface of bronze rostrums and archaeological artefacts found in the surrounding sea. The images thus attempt to represent a process of alteration and contamination, experimenting with photographic material as an object and instrument of visual investigation. The first part of the project is realised during the residency "IMAGINARIUM - New productions and experimentations in Italian photography".
