MY SON, ZANDER’S

PHOTOGRAPHS OF SICILY

2009

For six months I lived with an Italian family in a small town on the southern coast of Sicily. Upon arriving I felt the isolation that inevitably accompanies long distances from family, friends, school, and the life I had known for 17 years. I didn’t speak Italian or Sicilian, the local dialect, which made the first few months particularly difficult. I had been thrust into a world I wasn’t familiar with. A world of scooters, old men walking around the piazza, graffiti that covered everything, teachers who never get up from their desks, sardine sandwiches, country wine, loud voices, Fiats, and many hours of personal time. This experience, which in one sense opened me up to a new world, also provided me with a period of intense introspection.

My days were designed around the daily passeggiata. Each afternoon I would venture a little farther from the comfort of my apartment’s surroundings, until I had mastered the labyrinth of streets that spread like spider webs around the numerous town squares. My camera always hung around my neck. The majority of the works submitted in this portfolio are the results of hours of walking. I learned, through the lens of my camera, to find the hidden beauty of a place that was not inherently beautiful to an outsider. When the locals saw me taking a photograph, they would often ask me, “This is ugly, why are you taking this?” I never quite knew how to answer. I could only explain to them that whatever it was I saw was something new to me. I believe my work conveys a notion of solitude, while remaining hopeful and in many cases beautiful.