Much like Leandra (one of the most symbolic “invisible cities” imagined by Italo Calvino in his book of the same name), cities are defined not by their architecture or geography, but by the coexistence of spirits—those domestic spirits tied to the memories of families and homes, and those associated with newcomers, displacements, and transformations.
Cities are also formed by layers of memory, affections, customs, and presences accumulated over time.
According to Calvino, urban identity arises from this unstable balance between what endures and what transforms.
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A diptych from a forthcoming photography book titled Parallel Worlds—an exploration of poetics through photographic diptychs.
For my photography projects centered on memory, territory, and the reinterpretation of landscapes, the city of Leandra offers a particularly rich interpretive key: the photographs can reveal not only what is present in the landscape but also the invisible traces of past occupations and the possibilities of futures yet to unfold.
In this sense, Leandra is a city of superimposed memories and invisible presences that continue to inhabit these places, even when they can no longer be seen.
Antonio Mozeto 