Join the conversation
Subcribe to comment rss feedA refuge from everyday life and stress
Antonio Aleo
I am a passionate about landscape photography; I live in my birthplace, Calabria, a wonderful place with almost wild flavour, combining sea, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, forests and hilly landscapes. I find my greatest inspiration in photographing the heart of the forests of the great Calabrian parks, experiencing a huge sense of creative freedom.
Those who follow me are aware of my love for trees; subjects that have now become the trademark of my photographs and that have made my photographic style quite identifiable, less impactful and less commercial, but more meditative and reflective, subjective representation and intimate of my reality. I pay a lot of attention in the choice of subjects, I look for lines and shapes, colour and shades, elements that must metaphorically represent my state of mind and that basically translate into an inner search.
What binds me to trees is the memory of some emotional states belonging to parts of my life and the forest symbolises something very deep, metaphysical, psychic.
In 2014 bored by years of spectacular landscape photography and that I no longer felt mine, I set out on a personal search, free from any stereotype that influenced my images. I spontaneously approached a more personal and descriptive photograph of my Self rather than the landscape. So, I started to frequent the Calabrian mountains, especially the plateau of the Sila National Park and with its huge pine and beech forests I created a symbiotic and interpersonal bond. Thus, it was that from the depths of the unconscious some memories emerged, as from the abyss, which gave life to my photographic identity.
In 2008 I faced a dark period in my life, depression, as underrated as it is widespread, a mood disorder that affects 15 out of 100 people. This is a society that I consider suffocating, bombarding with information and injustices, generating discomfort and further fuelling suffering. Obviously, medicine and psychology have made enormous progress and with will you can face any malaise.