This is an unpublished project premiered today on C41 Magazine.
Francesco Costantini was born and raised in Mestre, an urban area in the mainland of Venice and a place with a controversial history. From an early age, he developed a strong interest in the relationship he has with the environment in which he lives and the influences that this has exercised and exerted on him. He uses photography as a means to thoroughly analyze this bond of him, also paying attention to how other people experience it in turn.
About Where Ivy Grows – words by Francesco Costantini:
Growing up with one foot on the asphalt and the other one on the grass, interacting with two opposite worlds, you wonder what kind of animal lives within four concrete walls. You ask yourself questions about its nature, about what exists under and around that concrete, and about what was born in and from the city this animal created. This internal dialogue can be summarized in two questions on which I have reflected and continue to reflect: “What kind of relationship do human beings have with the surrounding environment? How do I personally experience this relationship?”.
Immediately realizing their powerlessness in the face of nature, humans learned to sidestep it, to defend themselves and to exploit nature’s benefits according to their needs. Architecture represents a clear demonstration of this phenomenon, as in most cases it affirms itself in an order other than the natural one, simple and complex at the same time and totally indifferent to our notion of order.
Photography proved to be a useful way for me to fully understand the landscape: active principle which essence is defined by the relationship between natural processes and human actions, whether they are aimed to its modification or the simple act of observing that, filtered by the senses and human perception, allows the landscape to take on its full meaning. It captures a mutual relationship: the surrounding environment influences humanity, as humanity, evolving, modifies and influences the surrounding environment. In my gaze, in fact, you will not find any interest in the place itself, but in the phenomena related to it: the effects of buildings and spacial organizations.
