Erasing

A land reclaimed from the sea, an unstable playground of mud, clay and low-cost experimental housing. I grew up in Lelystad, a 70s polder town, which was intended to be the promising capital of a new province. A place without monuments, without a past, without a centre. It is an unstable ever-changing landscape of tree grids and housing rows, in an un-endless open space. Here my personal journey to appreciate the language of simple everyday architecture started.

Socio-economical conditions of Europe of the last decade has fostered and increased the possibility to travel and work abroad. In the last 8 years I moved between 6 European countries, working and living in 8 different cities, in more than 10 different houses. In this stream of cultural contacts I could confront my original background with new environments and landscapes. I discovered a common ground beyond the landmarks and peculiarities of each city. There are uncommon places that frame our everyday life. Seemingly unattractive, made out of simple geometries, temporarily, unstable, but nonetheless with their own seductive quality. I try to capture these places, searching for a way to portrait their pictorial quality by erasing everything that does not belong to the deep image I perceive.

The process of erasing is based on simple actions of moving, relocating, copying and cleaning elements, till the moment that an original photo moves to the edge, between the exact representation of reality and the construction of a pure architectonic composition. Masses break down in planes and the black and white emphasize the physicality of light. The work captures an atmosphere that remains in-between imagination and everyday reality. It is a way to rethink the modern idiom: as an ordinary, light and non-pretentious vocabulary that is grounded in plain everyday reality.

Erasing to re-contextualize
Erasing to remember
Erasing to see
Erasing