Il Gattopardo
This series is a meditation on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard, which details the unification of Sicily with mainland Italy during the mid-19th Century. I used the book as a starting point for an exploration of the island. It is a project I have been returning to over a number of years, drawn by a persistent fascination with the island’s shifting landscapes and historical layering.
Since unification with Italy in 1861, Sicily has grappled with the notion of governance from Rome and continues to retain a stoically unyielding sense of identity, wholly distinct from mainland Italy. Journeying from Palermo to Catania, these diaristic images chronicle a circumnavigation of the island’s western peninsula, seeking to capture a visual essence of Sicily’s indomitable character.
By contrasting the landscapes of ancient relics with overlooked corners of contemporary cities and towns, the photographs speak of the way in which beauty survives in a natural realm increasingly encroached upon by the manmade. The work considers the interaction of society and nature, and bears witness to the slow decline of a once-prosperous region.