So Far So Near

Railroads and travelers from another time

Just graduated from a photography school in Brussels, lover of Italy and Italian cinema, I decided to discover the beautiful country in a personal way, almost as if it were someone to know. We are in August 1992.

So I venture on the first train to Florence and then to Rome. I go even further south, towards Naples, Reggio Calabria and finally Sicily. And during the long hours of travel and waiting on the platforms, in the midst of this chaos of features, expressions, faces that come and go, I start my casting and I begin to photograph the faces I meet, from station to station, from carriage to carriage.

Today, 30 years later, I see those photographs that portray an Italy that, unfortunately, is no longer there and probably also a world that no longer exists. The Italy that I photographed is full of penetrating and innocent gazes, like the black and white cinema of neorealism.

The people photographed don't look at the lens to earn a "like" on social media but dare to pose "bare" with all their humanity in front of the photographer. In fact, they enter into a sort of empathetic "communion" with the young foreigner they did not know until a few minutes before. 

As the title suggests, 30 years ago you could open the windows on trains. Today this simple action is no longer possible.

Only 30 years have passed… but it seems like a lot more.

So what has changed in us over the past 30 years?

Because something has changed, it is undeniable…but what and why?

We could perhaps find the answer in the eyes of these travelers and these railway workers, witnesses of a world that did not know the internet, laptops, privacy laws and social distancing.