© Elena Prola, "Off Stage"

The Carroponte, a former industrial structure in Sesto San Giovanni transformed into a concert venue, is usually associated with the collective experience of music and entertainment. Yet, when the audience disappears and the lights go out, something else emerges. The space becomes a kind of limbo, suspended between its industrial past and its present function, where young people gather, rest, and simply exist.

The yo portrayed by Elena Prola through their presence, transforming an architectural void into a space of possibility. Their gestures suggest that a place is never entirely defined by its original design or intended use, but also by the unexpected ways in which people choose to inhabit it.

© Elena Prola, "Off Stage"

© Elena Prola, "Off Stage"

Perhaps this is particularly true of adolescence, a period when the world inherited from adults begins to feel restrictive, and the rules governing its spaces and behaviours become open to question. There is something profoundly necessary in the search for places that are neither designed for consumption nor entirely prescribed in advance. Adolescence can be understood as the stubborn belief that the world might still be different, that other ways of living together remain possible. In this sense, young people remind us of something we risk forgetting as we grow older.

© Elena Prola, "Off Stage"

I find myself wondering whether the Carroponte may disappear, its function may change, and the people who gather there today will belong to memory. Yet perhaps other young people will still be searching for spaces in which they can exist outside the scripts prepared for them.

There is a gentleness in Prola’s portraits that seems to transcend the specific place and time in which they were made, contrasting with the post-industrial character of the Carroponte. These young, tender, and quiet faces disarm our expectations, reminding us that the meaning of a place is shaped by those who inhabit it and can rarely be imposed in advance. The image we construct of a place from the outside does not necessarily correspond to the experience of those who live it every day. Perhaps those who plan the future of our cities, places, and neighbourhoods should remember this.

© Elena Prola, "Off Stage"

© Elena Prola, "Off Stage"

© Elena Prola, "Off Stage"

Off Stage is ultimately about a way of being present, remaining open to others. The photographs speak of a fragile continuity, revealing a desire that endures beyond the spaces and circumstances that give it form.

Elena Prola (website)