© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

Igor Londero, a young Friulian artist, works between image, video, and sound in an innovative and non-coded multimedia path. His work "Earthquakes," a finalist portfolio for "Urbanautica Institute Awards 2020", was born as a thesis project followed by the supervisors Walter Guadagnini and Davide Tranchina, and then evolved further outside the academic field. 

"Friuli thanks you and does not forget."

The word "trauma", from the Greek τραῦμα, -ατος "wound", has an Indo-European root * TR, which indicates the action of crossing, both physical and figurative. We also encounter the same root in the word "transmission," describing the passage of a thing - an asset, information, a virus - from one point to another, from one person to another. Suppose we are quite familiar with the idea of ​​genetic inheritance due to physical characteristics. In that case, it is perhaps less obvious to imagine that one can also inherit memories and experiences from one's ancestors. Therefore, even negative experiences, such as traumas, can go through generations, leaving their mark on individuals distant in time. It is in this direction that the work of Igor Londero seems to move, which explores the residues of a traumatic event. This earthquake struck Friuli in 1976, searching for it in the new generations and in the new architecture that replaced the ruins. What are the reasons that led you to develop the project?

Igor Londero (IL): The first formalization of "Earthquakes" was in 2016, marking the 40th anniversary of the natural disaster. Although its memory is a constant and the narration of the "before / after" is not yet completely exhausted, the anniversary led me to cope with those reflections populating my imagination and setting the basis of my cultural identity. I wanted to shape the question: can the echo of a catastrophic event that radically changed a territory have visible repercussions on the generations to follow? Indeed, those 59 seconds of May 6, 1976, indelibly changed the lives of the families involved and the anthropic landscape of the following decades, but how does that distant disaster affect my peers and me? Do we still carry the scars?

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

The initial core of the project arose when involved by the University of Trieste in a mapping of post-earthquake architecture. Traveling around the area between the chosen civil buildings and photographing them with the critical distance was the key to rethinking the influence that certain places had on my generation. For example, I knew very well that the school environments we lived in during our childhood were prefabricated buildings assembled in the 76 ', but understanding how much they have influenced us is not easy to understand.

The earthquake is not apparent in your images, but the viewer can sense it, even if veiled. For example, in the mural depicting those people - anonymous - surrounded by flames and accompanied by crows; it is not explicit even in the archive photos, yet it is breathed like an air of suspension, of removal, as in the white of the buildings, in the rarefied light. The most widespread narrative on the Friuli earthquake is a positive narrative, made up of reconstruction, a sense of community, and overcoming. Another curious and perhaps little-known aspect is that of having given a name to the event, "Orcolat", the Orcaccio, almost a way to provide it with a face and texture to be able to identify and confine it. And the importance of naming is known to understand and overcome events and traumas. Biblical history, for example, is born when God gives Adam the faculty to name things. This positivity seems to waver in your work: what is the relationship of the new generations with this narrative? Is the name "Orcolat" still widespread?

IG: The positive narrative of the reconstruction and the "Friuli model", as it is easy to guess, brings with it several gray areas that remain hidden, however, perhaps out of pride, probably because a positive memory is essential. I will not enter into the social, economic, or urban planning merits, and indeed I cannot speak for an entire generation. Yet I believe that a process of disillusionment towards this perception is already underway. I think that the vision of the Orcolat understood as an expression of a living and non-fossil folklore can be ascribed to one of these shady areas I mentioned above. The territory has undergone a crazy acceleration on many fronts. 1976 in Friuli is identified as a watershed for infinite and obvious reasons, first of all for an economic recovery that has made a clean sweep not only of the "rudinas" ("ruins" in Friulian). The territory has undergone a crazy acceleration on many fronts, and as often happens, what is left behind is a part of cultural identity strictly connected to the rhythms of life, to rituals. It is undeniable that the spirituality and the narratives linked to an intimacy with nature and a simpler sociality have lost their sharpness.

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

I don't know to my peers what remained or what they managed to rebuild pre-earthquake Friuli, but I feel lucky. In the mid-90s, there was an awareness of these issues and attempts to stop the bleeding. It is enough for me to give the example of the debate on the teaching of "Friulian" in primary schools. The language was stigmatized to such an extent that one of my linguistic difficulties was initially attributed to the prevalence of the Friulian speech in the family (I grew up in close contact with my grandmothers, and my parents at home speak mainly Friulian). Instead, it turned out to be a form of dyslexia and, therefore, wholly detached from exposure to the Friulian language. On the contrary, in terms of cognitive development, I believe that bilingualism has brought me only advantages that allowed me to compensate for the discomforts linked to dyslexia.

Usually, the new generations are told to represent dreams and, therefore the future of a place, but observing your story comes to mind another hypothesis, perhaps risky, and which once again uses the roots of the words. "Traum" in German means dream, and while almost faithfully tracing the word trauma, it does not derive directly from the Greek, but from the Proto-Germanic "draumaz" and from the ancient Saxon "drōm" which means "joy, pleasure". It retains, even if transformed, the usual Indo-European root TR *, here as a variant of DR *, which continues to indicate a going beyond. But, if the English "dream" has retained the positive nuance of the origins, the German sense seems instead to position itself at least in an ambiguity, placing dreams in a dimension of precariousness and existential danger. What is the relationship with the dream for you and for the boys you interviewed? And their future visions, and your future goals, how do they relate in turn to the earthquake?

IG: This reading is undoubtedly fitting; the "earthquakes" to which I allude in the title of my project are the emotional landslides that my generation (millennials?) finds itself experiencing, especially in the suburbs. All the subjects portrayed I chose have biographical characteristics in common: born between the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s, raised in the areas of Friuli affected by the earthquake in '76, whose parents had experienced the earthquake and reconstruction. Furthermore, everyone has decided to stay or return to live in Friuli. Despite this, I think it is challenging to find a standard line; certainly, our dreams are not structured and are unlikely to be long-term. I don't know if I can link them to a concrete awareness of the "ground zero" we carry on our shoulders.

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes" 

What means have you used for this project, and how have you approach it? How vital was the archive research?

IG: From a technical point of view, in this project and for most of my works, I have chosen to work with film and a large-format camera. The workflow with these means does not lead me to produce better images but forces me to make less, which allows me to design much of the work in the preliminary stages of the project. Working with the large format also allowed me to emotionally distance myself from the subjects being shot, both in portraits and architecture. The project envisaged a formal repetition in the shots, a visually austere choice that forces the viewer to focus on details, similarities, and inconsistencies.

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

On the other hand, the archive arrived suddenly, at a stage when the project was already 'closed', an almost casual collision. Precisely in an attempt to avoid the shared and often rhetorical representation of the earthquake, I vetoed the use of archive images. However, during my work at CRAF (Center for Research and Archiving of Photography in Spilimbergo), with which I have been collaborating for some years in the digitization laboratory, I found in my hands the photographic plates of the Civil Engineers of Udine, photographic documentation of interventions made between the 1920s and 1960s throughout the region: public buildings, schools, bridges, roads. I immediately found a deep connection with the themes of my project to the point of deciding to select resilient architectures from this archive and put them in dialogue with the images I produced.

Each project is also a learning process. What have you learned from this photographic survey work?

IG: Undoubtedly, firstly I acquired further awareness of the territory in which I was born and in which I have decided to live. While from a photographic point of view, I enjoyed discovering how the history of photography often folds in on itself: the shots in the photographic plates of the surveyors commissioned in the 1920s by the Civil Engineers are not so different from mine.

© Igor Londero from the series "Earthquakes"

How important is it as a photographer to return something to the photos' protagonists to make them participate in the path of representation?

IG: This is a very complex topic; I highly respect the authors who can interact profoundly with the subjects portrayed and return something concrete. I feel more like a thief, even if in "Earthquakes" all the subjects I have portrayed are people I have known for a long time and with whom I built the images ad hoc, leaving complete freedom.

Today there is a lot of buzz about photography. As for your work, what are the difficulties you encounter in telling and disseminating your work?

IG: Despite the turmoil around photography, unfortunately, I see a few listening opportunities and many difficulties for most authors. Personally, after years of attempts, closed doors, and perhaps after acquiring a more mature vision of the dynamics of some environments, I have lowered my expectations concerning the dissemination of my projects. My course of study and my work activities link significantly to the world of photography (contemporary and otherwise), so I have not lost interest in it in the slightest. I changed my point of view. Rather than emerging, I like to define myself as submerged. An attitude that allows me to live my projects more serenely and focus on them rather than worrying about an Instagram profile, paying unjustified fees to participate in some open calls, or presenting myself at each opening.

Are you currently working on new projects?

IG: In recent months I have been working on editing and designing an artist's book to collect one of my first photographic projects, "Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte". The book concept is developed thanks also to Luca Panaro and Chippendale Studio.
Furthermore, I am in the study phase for a new project that starts from another great scar in my area: the Vajont disaster. I have already addressed the issue in the past, but I still feel the need to investigate.

LINKS
Igor Londero (website)