The “Doors, windows, doorways and courtyards” project is part of my personal research of evocative images of lived moods or source of emotions and thoughts. The various elements considered are part of the building industry, a continuously developing activity.
Doors, windows and doorways are the elements that, within the inside-outside border lining, allow the passage, doors and doorways, or allows looking out or the passing through of light, the windows.
With a closer look since ever, since humankind has left caves and ravines, to find protection and shelter in ad hoc built environments, being either huts or castles, the elements considered by the project have been used and had good reasons to be used. As a matter of fact the need to “define” the living environment, the protected area of the “shelter”, required from one side to define the spaces, restricting access and the view inside, always allowing in any case to enter and exit and, from the other side, where required, to allow in outside light and the possibility of changing the air of the rooms
When I realize my target, creating emotions through my works, the viewer of my shots uses his imagination to attempt to visualize, at least mentally, what is in the spaces inside precluded from sight: doors and windows type, dimensions and decorations provide significant clues of what we cannot see. Doorways, thanks to their huge sizes and workmanship, offer further insights and assessment elements of both the interior and the type of dwelling in which they are placed.
Doors and doorways can look out on views, exterior, but even more, interior, full of charm and mystery: many questions may arise from the vision of a set consisting of the artefact, its decoration and the elements surrounding it.
Courtyards, open spaces bordered by buildings and boundary walls, are today, unfortunately, frequently converted to simple and anonymous parking places for vehicles, while, time ago, and not so far, were gathering places for adults and children. The former busy in working activities or simply devoted to chatting or resting, the latter frequently playing, plays nowadays not anymore alive. My works can be the incentive to retrace mentally and in emotional terms the past.
The elements considered by the project can be simple architectural elements or be little works of art, depending by the context and on how the owner, the developer and the architect have intended to make them visible. However, the same practical functionality remains and, as far as my work is concerned, the evocative and emotional appearance: not all items object of the research are equally evocative and emotional a careful selection and evaluation is required in order to capture the significant aspects for the goal that the research aims.
When evaluating the subjects to be shot I deem important to consider that doors, doorways and windows in addition to marking areas of passage are the "thermometer" measuring how the building in which are inserted is treated and maintained: frequently time wears and slowly deteriorates them. Care, maintenance and attentions can make the difference both in appearance and in the durability and functionality and the images are objective evidence of these aspects as well as the emotional aspects and emotional catalyst for the observer.
On the other hand the effects of time and the deterioration of materials will help to uncover the material quality of them offering a vision of the artefacts and their ruins that otherwise would not be in any way verified. Even this view may be reason for emotions, even strong, reflecting on the past and the experience of those who were user of what today is no longer usable.
A theme that I consider useful and partly on its own is that of the great gates, often placed in major facades: always in wood, are frequently replaced with modern artefacts that have nothing to do with the past. Document how our grandparents and ancestors built them is, I believe, a duty for those who believe that the past serves or may serve as lessons for the future. Unfortunately when dismantled are lost forever. For these the evocative-emotional appearance combines with a no less significant documentary aspect. Even for these remain the allure of what they conceal and what is hidden behind their surfaces, it is required to be able to imagine and perhaps dream a little.
The images that follow are intended to provide a brief overview of what has been collected and documented.
“the garden from inside”
“blue door”
“56!”
“in the sun”
“outside from outside”
“closed!”
“old doorway”
“door & window”
“Pink Floyd”
“Window on a cloured wall”
