© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

I met Vincenzo Pagliuca, and we talked about his series Mónos, a research of lonely, oneiric houses from the Italian Southern Appennine. We are among mountain areas dedicated to agriculture and pastoralism, often abandoned in the winter season. What little tourism there was did not withstand competition and climate change. Snow is rare and perhaps too expensive to produce artificially. Yet,  I'm curious about the reasons that brought the photographer to this area. He tells me that the work stems from an interest in the landscape that accompanies him from his photographic beginnings and a strong personal need, from a childhood fascination for these solitary and dispersed structures. A feeling that had remained intact over time and that carries with it a memory of him as a child observing the countryside, the family hinterland. An attraction mixed with awe for these empty houses. The story reminds me of how much I enjoyed as a kid jumping into old houses or construction sites. It's about a feeling I understand. An atmosphere that he tried to restore in photography.

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

The series results from several journeys in which the author sometimes goes further south, as far as Aspromonte, in the Calabrian region. The investigation begins with identifying the suitable structures, the right houses, and then returning to photograph them with the right light, often in winter, with an overcast sky. For this, the project took months of waiting, of dialogue, of confrontation. Vincenzo, therefore, has established a special bond with these places.

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

We are looking at different typologies, though an atmosphere unites them. «I wanted these structures to become magnetic presences within the natural landscape, to become visible through their graphic signs, as real sculptural presences». Light is essential, and therefore, often, trips have no outcomes. In this sense, the work marks a discontinuity with respect to previous works, which are more of a purely documentary. Vincenzo tells me of the importance of Carl Gustav Jung's reading of how the house becomes a projection of the self, of how they take on particular meanings in the dimension of dreams. He also mentions Gaston Bachelard; home as an archetypal image of intimacy. The title"Mónos" from ancient Greek refers to the isolation of these structures and their monolithic presence, to their singularity.

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

Vincenzo explains that he gets a little angry when he hears that these houses are defined as abandoned. What is most significant, he argues, is their condition of emptiness, which makes them available to be inhabited dreamily. The atmospheric component that unites them is essential as the gateway to the archetype. The documentary aspect is secondary. Of course, there is an inherent risk of aestheticizing these realities, however, balanced by the fact that each home is a world unto itself. These structures are very open to interpretation, and they release different emotions. «Even looking at the same house at different times of the day produces different responses.» I can partially perceive the fantasies that these forms could unleash in Vincenzo's imagination as a child.

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

Several aspects testify to Vincenzo Pagliuca's complete dedication to the trial. the rigor in the frame, and in the perspective with the center of gravity aligned with the architecture. Or the use of the same film and lenses creates an ideal backdrop for structures to come to life. A method, a discipline, emerges, which nevertheless appears indispensable from a conceptual assumption. From this point of view, "Mónos" represents a fundamental evolutionary stage in Vincenzo Pagliuca's path. Of course, the interest in the signs that man leaves on the landscape is unchanged, but there is mediation with his inner world. This documentary / conceptual approach is also present in another yet unpublished work that examines with a similar process the bunkers present in the Alto Adige area in Northern Italy. Here too, the dream aspect is accentuated and the historical one, a search for a balance between the two needs. Light becomes the fundamental ingredient that makes harsh research at times unproductive. But here, the care of this exercise distinguishes a pure formal registration from the search for a person's expressiveness, where the subject becomes an accomplice of the photographer. 

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

© Vincenzo Pagliuca from the series 'Mónos'

LINKS

Vincenzo Pagliuca (website)