A Journey - Beyond the Frame, University of Westminster
This project explores the concept of the map not as an item used for exterior explorations, but as part of the memory of a human being.
The body of a person could be considered like a map already: the face, the hands, gestures and habits could guide us into understanding the life experiences that person lived. For this project, however, I wanted to focus on the concept of memory underlining the geographical location the subject is from, because I wanted the viewer to understand how it could still condition the present of a person. Nevertheless, I didn't want to consider only the past, so I decided to use a picture in which the subject is projected to the future: we can see he's on a train, he has a working bag, a newspaper, and he's dressed as if he's going to the office. I decided to portray my father for this project because he has always been a traveler: he was born in Switzerland in a family of Italian immigrants, he grew up in the USA, and he eventually came back to Italy. Nowadays, he takes up to five flights a week for work.
For this project, also, I wanted to underline how we cannot tell where he's going in the near future: no elements in the picture can allow us to understand his destination.
With this picture I didn't want to represent a finished journey, but an on-going situation that leaves room to endless possibilities - bringing the whole concept of the project beyond the frame.
