By Cities of XXI century: a place where past and history come together to become the present.
My love is passionate, relentless, almost morbid and probably timeless. Certainly also for photography. But particularly I’m in love with big cities. When I want to run away from commitments, from my problems and my thoughts or I want to send everyone to hell, the name of my refuge is Bologna, Paris, London, Barcelona, or, if I’m lucky, New York. Cities in the XXI century are degradation, pollution, dirt and in many cases the proof of integration failure. Places where is impossible to live in, where people are rude and often intolerant. However, when I look at streets, squares and buildings, I see places where life has its highest expression. Where past and history come together to become the present: that place where people now live in. Colors, smells and noises become sensations. Meetings, dialogues and gestures become exchanges of emotions. I often roam the streets alone or at least I reserve part of the day for me and my camera. I need to satisfy my unstoppable desire to capture those unique and almost perfect moments that my eye immediately perceives. Those moments that ordinary people, distracted and lost in their thoughts, look without seeing. Photography for me has this terrific force. It makes me able to show what other people just can not see. Then I walk down the street aimlessly and relaxed but determined to enjoy the show where each person is an unwitting actor in the middle of an unlimited proscenium. Usually I don’t take photos of architectures. I can’t even imagine a city without people, so in my mind I can only see pictures with the presence of people. Strolling, reading, laughing, chatting together. It does not matter. What is important is that they are there and that their presence fills the space and conveys the essence of the place, the essence of being and living. In big cities I can find the meaning of living, good or bad depends on my mood, by observing people and their lives. Sometimes if I look them in the face and if I stare their eyes, for a moment I can be them, overcoming our biggest limitation. That we can only live one life.
Peter Zullo
