Ascendit

“Ascendit” is a series of six portraits inspired by architectural details taken from the observation of famous Gothic monuments.

Through these photographic portraits, I want to represent the parallelism that exists between the characteristics of Gothic architecture with the human soul, constantly in tension and looking for something that is beyond itself. In Gothic architecture, there is a dynamic spatiality that develops in an ascensional verticality of the forms, pushed to the limit. This propensity will be associated with a will of tension of the soul, suspended between spirituality and heresy, between heaven and earth.

In Gothic cathedrals the single elements, while forming an indivisible unit, must at the same time proclaim their own identity while remaining clearly separated from each other. The classical Gothic style demands that one can deduce not only the inside from the outside but also, for example, the organization of the entire system from the cross-section of a pillar. All this brings to mind a living organism, in Goethe’s sense: the parts inspired by the whole.

It is from this concept that I wanted to create these six images. In each of which the human element is represented in relation to one or more architectural elements, where the human being projects his spiritual nature into the work in which he is inserted. This series of images are self-portraits, and in two of them, there is also the addition of the masculine element to best represent the human sphere in relation to intimacy.

The resin realization of the gothic details used as a scenographic ornament of the photographic portraits was made by the Italian sculptor Michele Rinaldi.