Umbria, italia
Italy is one of the most culturally rich places in the world. The country has been shaped by human civilization for at least 3000 years. This development is visible right up to the present day. Every square kilometer has been worked, adapted and shaped over the centuries. The whole country is one big garden. And there is a tower on every hill. People have moved away from the villages below, and decay has set in. A morbid beauty combined with a picturesque and ever-changing landscape.
Layers
In German, the word Geschichte means both “history” and something layered — one layer built upon another. Many Umbrian towers, bell towers as well as communication towers, show this clearly: sections of different materials and styles reveal construction phases from different eras. Their stratified structure mirrors Italy’s overlapping historical timelines, where architectural remnants from the Etruscans to the present coexist within a single vertical form.
presentation
The towers create the best effect as large prints, for example 180x50cm. The viewer stands in front of the pictures like a giant in a city of towers, looking at details as never seen before because they are high up.
Details that have evolved over the centuries. Repairs to the roof, crumbling plaster, metal ladders and lightning rods covered in moss. Birds' nests, bushes and grasses - and flocks of pigeons that mistook my drone for a hawk.