“The more similar the cause, the more similar the effect. Nevertheless […] There never has been, it seems, exactly the same cause and exactly the same effect.” (H.G. Wells)
Le Sorgenti
This project explores the relationship between intentional human activity and spontaneous natural processes, by zooming in on various walls throughout the city of Florence. The photos of this series show wallpaintings or wallscapes, formed by natural processes affecting artificial layers of paint. They are snapshots of a process in constant transformation, creating and destroying what the human eye could perceive as beauty. The emerging shades of color and the organic lines formed by these natural processes, oppose the plain and structured way the paint has been applied.
Plain, painted walls are archetypes of human intervention. After all, human activity, like human reasoning, is primarily based on categorizing and dividing. In order to understand and govern the world, artificially separated units are created constantly. In the physical world, walls and fences represent powerful metaphors of the dichotomisation of life. Used to mark territories, walls symbolize the human need for order, division and possession. Either you are on one side, or the other.
Natural processes, like erosion and corrosion, are driven differently. They are subject to a complex array of influences which seem to aspire to a perfect spread rather than a perfect division, creating blends, grades and shades. Powered by what is often referred to as entropy, chemical reactions and physical interactions create patterns on what where intentionally plain walls. These unintentional works of art are a pure representation of the beauty of blending, in continuous evolution, appearing and disappearing, bringing life to a dead surface.
The photos of Borghi Pinti are snapshots of these processes. They show wallpaintings that have not been created by an artist, but that have been formed by a unique balance between human activity and natural processes. Like the treasured Pietra Paesina, found in the hills surrounding Florence and popularized by the Medici in the 16th century, these wallscapes trigger our imagination. Whether reminding of a landscape, a memory or an emotion, the photographs of Borghi Pinti intend to document little graphic stories, spontaneously written on stone and hiding in plain sight.
