And in darkness you find colors

“And in darkness you find colors” is a participatory photo project I’ve done during the first Covid19’s quarantine in 2020 in Italy together with my two sons, Davide, 11, and Giovanni, 8. 

They couldn’t go to school neither see friends nor doing sports or music classes. They were aware that outside the fence of our garden there was a serious epidemic going around in the world. They had a lot of questions about it and fears and imaginary. To cope with these feelings, which sometimes could be overwhelming for young, we decided to create a universe of dreams and magic thanks to the connection with the natural environment of the countryside around us. Each night, we carved our imaginary out of complete darkness by enlightening the scene with different sources of lights. We never knew how exactly the picture was going to be: we sketched the idea on a notebook but then we adapted it to the place, our bodies and our feelings. We let the momentum and our connections play roles. Every picture triggered inspirations for the following one. We used items that we found at home: old toys, sheets, masks, old stuff from the garage. Then, we discussed the photos together, creating and enforcing bonds among us. I chose a vertical orientation of the pictures to remind the idea of a door, opening onto our inner world. The title of this project both refers to the visual narrative we used and to the hope that in any situation, even the worst one, we would be able to find the positive aspects.

For me, the silver linings of this confinement was the precious long suspended time with my sons, out of the world, into our own world, where I could enjoy the last colors of their childhood.

This project has been awarded Happiness ONTHEMOVE 2021 by Cortona ONTHEMOVE Festival and 78th POYi in the “Covid-19 personal expression” category. It has been published on New York Magazine – The Cut and The New Yorker