The protagonist of this week’s Guestbook is the Italian Nicola Bertellotti, with his splendid photographs of abandoned architecture. After approaching John Ruskin’s philosophy, which highlights the sense of the
We at Collater.al asked Nicola to tell himself through an interview, which you can find below:
How did you get into the world of photography, do you have a memory?
It all started as a journey, the passion for photography was born with curiosity and the desire to capture what I met on my way; I wanted a story in images that would come as close as possible to the authentic experience.
Why did you choose to photograph abandoned places?
I was fascinated by the aesthetics of the ruins. Contended between nature and culture, suspended between destruction and reconstruction, immersed in the flow of time and stretched towards eternity, ruin has in its ambivalence the topos of modernity.
Is there a particular shot that influenced your look?
Edward Burtynsky’s “Shipbreaking 12” appears to us, like almost all of his works, as an image of the end of time. However, there is something incredibly beautiful and breathtaking in the vastness of this perspective. As long as human needs and desires change, the landscape will also change and no one like him can tell you about that change.
What do you want to communicate to the public?
A few years ago I chose “Hic sunt Dracones” as the title for my exhibition. an expression that is associated with ancient maps to indicate unexplored areas. Since all the places I photograph have practically disappeared from the official maps, what moves me is to lift the veil on all this invisible geography around us.
Is there a dream in the drawer that you haven’t realized yet?
The dream to realize is always the new photographic journey that awaits me.
Follow Nicola’s take over on @Collater.al‘s Instagram profile!
