Chrissi
In the heart of the desert island of Chrissi, 8 miles South of Crete and surrounded by the Lybian Sea, a sacred forest rises: the world’s biggest concentration of Junipers Macrocarpa, a hard to come across Mediterranean tree of rare expressivity.
It is a forest of old, elegant branches, of sorrowful elements stretched out to reach a missing source of freshwater. Here the nubby trunks are shaped by the wind. Here the roots resemble the long legs of spiders as they lay bare on the ground as a result of the sand storms, simulating the unlikely leap towards a first step which will take, if it will ever happen, at least a century.
A diurnal and nocturnal morphological scenario that is both evocative and remarkably dramatic, carved by an eternity of sun and salt.
This sacred forest of five square kilometers, is the ensemble of singular and unique subjects, each one with its own character and dignity. Each one deserves its own portrait of austere uniqueness, a homage to the compelling and innocent beauty of the truth.
For the diurnal photos I portrayed the trees using the purity of a big white cloth as a backdrop. A shroud to help me wipe away the sweat, the strain and the marks of heat, life and time. A photographic cloth able to create areas of shade to isolate the figures of the trees, glorifying the nobility of the posture and all the grace of the majestic natural imperfection. A funeral sheet that envelops, protects and covers the dry branches of a nature at the same time dead and immortal.
I shot the nocturnal photos in the full moon light to enhance the dramatic nature of these creatures.
