Italy, the old and the beautiful
I have always found beauty in the decay: abandoned boats leaning into the land, long forgotten lobster pots with their labour unravelled, and derelict cottages crumbling in the shadows of their pebble-glazed replacements. I love the way in which the shapes of neglect reflect their history in black and white photography.
Italy is the heart of decaying beauty: its past cracking and peeling like a Carravaggio canvas. Photographs often need abstract shapes and shadow architecture to find their beauty, but in Italy there is no need for this, for the beauty is already there, only to be replicated not recreated. Every corner turned is the beginning of a new focus, every bridge crossed is the start of a new shutter storm.
A land with an enormous diversity of customs and characteristics - yet there is something about it that is always Italian. Images of mooring posts and silhouetted gondolas, domes and campaniles, bridges and balconies - they leave us in no doubt as to why Italy is home to so many fashion houses and art collections.
Whether photographing a narrow street in the oldest part of Florence, or the procession of boats along the canals of Venice, or the ancient ruins of Rome, these images provide us with both familiar and unfamiliar reference points.