During the Fêtes de Bayonne, the city comes alive with an explosion of colors, traditions, and celebrations that draw thousands of people, day and night. In this vibrant atmosphere, a fundamental element is the quiet yet essential work of the Civil Protection, which, together with the Red Cross, firefighters, and SAMU, ensures first aid for anyone in need.
I aimed to capture the energy and dedication of these everyday heroes, always ready to step in, whether in the crowded festive streets or the specially designated emergency areas. Over the five days of celebrations, every detail of the safety measures is meticulously planned to ensure the festivities remain a joyful experience for everyone.
The human towers, called “Castells”, have been included in the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage from 2010, as one of the still actual Catalan traditions. Spontaneous groups of "Castellers", citizen of all ages and genders, perform during local celebrations or dedicated competitions.
The colour of the shirt and the logo on the pocket identify the belonging to a specific team. The chain of arms at the base is the "pinya", the group that pushes toward the center to give support, strength and stability to the tower, but also to act as a "pillow" in case of fall.
The hands have a primary role in the execution: they sustain the tower, hold the companions, act as a support and a grip for climbing.
Participants of all ages and builds train during the entire year, reproducing precise patterns in which everyone plays a specific role and performs accurate, studied movements. The result is an example of discipline, courage, trust in companions and a sense of responsibility towards the group.
The "Castell" is usually composed by at least six levels, with men at the bottom, women in the middle and children at the top. One of the children has to raise his hand to indicate the completion of the tower, which can also reach nine or ten floors.
Japan is the place where my long lasting certainties were totally demolished.
Tokyo is one of the most highly populated towns in the world, and it was silent. There were very few cars in the street, and people were walking everywhere.
Coming from a place where traditions are more and more being set aside and there is an integration of technology and innovation in each aspect of everyday life, it was surprising to see how Japan is able to balance those two aspects: in his run into the modernity are always visible the signs of his traditional culture.
Every week lots of volunteers of various ages and nationalities gather at the beach in Barcelona to collect the accumulated waste and prevent it from reaching the sea. At the end of the collection the garbage found is sorted and deposited in the different recycling bins.
They are normal people who devote their free time to a common good. They are contemporary heroes.
The pictures have been taken during some beach cleanups organised by Pure Clean Earth, No Mas Colillas En El Suelo, Yotuba.
Nine pearls, where humans, nature and wildlife live together in a great balance.
In a moment when the bread is more and more industrially made, frozen, carried to different shops where it's cooked and sold, we should support all the small realities that helps us appreciate the good, genuine bread made in the traditional way.
(@Cloudstreet Bakery, Barcelona)
Man is the only animal capable of transforming the environment that surrounds him.
In this project the attention is placed on the marine world, an environment that, due to lack of oxygen, man cannot colonize, but on which he still manages to act, with a mostly negative impact.
In every diptych, the absent man is present through his constructions and the remains of his daily activity, evident traces of his passage.
A bottle, a plastic teaspoon, a cotton swab, a micro-plastic, a fishing line, a balloon, and a cigarette butt are photographed exactly as they were found, as if they were the evidences of a crime, and represent some of the most common human footprints found on beaches, which end up contaminating the sea.
In limbo is how I feel each time I travel by plane.
It's a feeling that starts when I put my feet in the departure airport, a place which is unique and so similar to another airport anywhere else in the world. I could sit for hours and look at the people passing in front of my eyes, trying to imagine their lives, their stories. Where are they going? What for? Are they leaving someone behind? Are they moving forward or going back? Nobody is staying, everybody is leaving, those walls must have met so many people!
Once on the plane, this flying bus where we all look in front of us, no space for talking, nor for a smile, maybe just for eye contact with one of those accidentally crossed lives, I feel lucky if I get to sit at the window. A B-side travel starts, looking for shapes known from the maps, Indeed it’s true and it exists!, studying the colours on the ground, and feeling small as an ant. We are so many and in such a huge space. Nothing else matter at this time, it’s like a cold water shower that wakes me up from a regular zombie existence.
I enjoy so much the journey that I often fell sad when I arrive at my destination.
In northern Norway winter comes with darkness: the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon for 2 months, a long period called “Polar night”. During this time the day might be “bright”, but never “sunny”.
Around Tromso I’ve found out that the darkness is full of colour. The shadows of the sky, reflected by the snow, completely change the landscapes. In the darkness colours might be bright, and the light of the moon is often giving the feeling that the sun is shining on a winter silent desert.
Every 21st of January (if the weather is good), when the sun finally rises again above the horizon for a few minutes, everyone welcomes it back with lots of joy.
Coming from a country where the traffic turns crazy with a light rain, I grew up postponing each duty to the next sunny day, which 99% of the time was tomorrow.
London was rainy but crowded everyday. People here were not scared by the bad weather. One day, all of a sudden, the secret of life was disclosed to me: there is no bad weather, there are only bad clothes.
Every year 8.000.000 tons of plastic end up in the sea, killing more than 1.000.000 of marine animals and entering in the alimentary chain. If we keep producing plastic items, in 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.
The items in the photographs are of daily use and have been found on a beach in Barcelona, Spain. I photographed them by reproducing the way they could have been originally presented and sold.
Amsterdam Noord is an attractive neighbourhood on the north side of the IJ river, a former industrial district. Besides the number of bikes riding all around, it doesn’t match the canonic idea of Amsterdam one could have. This is probably the reason why I’ve found it so fascinating.
On this side of the city there is the NDSM, one-time a shipbuilding and repair company, today an amazing creative, artistic spot.
