Lampedusa Winter Reflections
A series of images featuring the sea surrounding Lampedusa, an island just over 20 square kilometers in size.
Every morning, for about a month, before sunrise I went to the cliff to photograph the moment when night would yield to day: a ritual, a form of reflection, perhaps a plea for help to clarify the doubts I carry with me.
But the doubts did not dissolve, and so the reflections continued at other times of the day as well.
During my stay on the island (December 2025 - January 2026), at least 200 migrants landed: I met fifteen of them just after disembarking, on the morning of January 18.
Starting the following day, cyclone Harry arrived.
No doubts were resolved, and the questions only multiplied.
Lampedusa Seascape I
Lampedusa Seascape II
Lampedusa Seascape III
Lampedusa Seascape IV
Lampedusa Seascape V
Lampedusa Seascape VI
The door of Europe - vertical
The door of Europe - dypthich I
The door of Europe - dypthich !I
The door of Europe - dypthich III
Lampedusa Seascape VII
Land Sea Sky - I
Land Sea Sky - II
Land Sea Sky - III
Seascape VIII
Seascape IX
Seascape X
They were or they weren't.
On an island or not.
An ocean or not an ocean
swallowed them up or it didn't.
Was there anyone to love anyone?
Did anybody have someone to fight?
Everything happened or it didn't
there or someplace else.
Seven cities stood there.
So we think.
They were meant to stand forever.
We suppose.
They weren't up to much, no.
They were up to something, yes.
Hypothetical. Dubious.
Uncommemorated.
Never extracted from air,
fire,water, or earth.
Not contained within a stone
or drop of rain.
Not suitable for straight-faced use
as a story's moral.
A meteor fell.
Not a meteor.
A volcano exploded.
Not a volcano.
Someone summoned something.
Nothing was called.
On this more-or-less Atlantis
-
Atlantis
Wisława Szymborska