The Camera Club of New York

The main subject of my work is physical places. I am interested in the relation between man-made environment and nature. This relation can be of very different types within the topics I choose. Most of my work is photographed at night. Night photography is a slow and calm but at the same time very precise process that suits me and my way of working. In my work I like playing with scales to make the viewers check and rethink their way of perception. One other central aspect of all my projects is “calm,” since our life has been speeded up so much, I feel I try to compensate this speed with my photographs.

The submitted photographs are part of the series Hale Kula which is the Hawaiian term for schoolhouse. All photos show elementary schools in Oahu, Hawaii. When I saw the first elementary school, I did not recognize the building as a school. I thought it was either a motel, a juvenile prison or a movie setting. I was fascinated by the contrariness of these deserted places that are so lively during day: the clash between individuality and conformity, the horizontals and formal reduction to bands of color behind grass accentuated by the darkness of night.

After I was told that it was a school, I was surprised– I never saw a school illuminated at night. When I heard why these schools are lit up, I was even more surprised: to prevent vandalism. It seemed an unexpected problem for the paradise that Hawaii is supposed to be.

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