Stones should never be placed carelessly (2023) is Guglielmo Cherchi‘s project showcased at the Liquida Photo Fest, reflecting on the human-stone relationship in Sardinia. The focus is on seeking points of reference and contact between landscape and domestic environment. «Since childhood, I have looked with great fascination at the world of rocks and minerals. An interest related to their enduring appearance, their aesthetic immutability, and the tactile, material, and visual well-being they conveyed to me at a stage of life when too many things seemed fleeting, mortal. A bond of necessity to which I attributed a sacred and superstitious character together, which I wanted to replicate in my photographic investigation,» Cherchi tells us.
If we go to Japan, in the tradition of the Japanese Garden, stones have an indissoluble role linked to the religious and spiritual side. Their position determines good or bad luck. In the Italian Garden, on the other hand, there is no trace of references to stones. «In Sardinia itself, the animistic connection with rock that has produced the enormous archaeological heritage that the island can boast seems to have largely been lost, supplanted by indiscriminate land consumption for building purposes,» the photographer continues.
In Italy, stone remains nothing but a construction material, peaks to climb, or ornamentation for its own sake. Cherchi’s intervention aims to make us reflect on the strength of stone, which is nothing but the result of a continuous transformation; marked by light, water, and wind but above all by human action.
Le fotografie di Guglielmo Cherchi saranno in mostra da Liquida Photo Fest dal 3 al 5 maggio.
