Visions of collapsing memories is the latest work of Federico Aimar, an exploration of the mountain and its time in which he felt it necessary to document not the causes of the depopulation of the mountain but its less obvious consequences in the short term and how this phenomenon is reflected in the landscape.
Starting from the houses that collapse as metaphors of memories that slowly fade over time, Federico started to photograph the ruins scattered in the mountains landscape, small bastions that still resist, as if the effort spent in building them was a glue against the relentless time. During this journey, Federico collected small objects hidden in the ruins; modern archaeological finds that talk about that life on the peaks.
At the same time as Federico wandering in the mountains, in an old uninhabited house like the ones he was photographing, negatives on glass sheets dating back to the early 1900s were found, almost as if destiny wanted to bring together the modern and the ancient.
He took care of the scanning of about a thousand negatives that gave tangible form to all the stories of that distant time. And so, within his research, a brief dialogue was born with an unknown ancient photographer, in which some photographs were reflected exactly: close in space, far in time.
A sense of romantic nostalgia, of freedom, the precious silence and the whispering voices of those times, where we were different men, accompanied Federico throughout this journey. And they will remain with him forever.
At the end of his journey Federico wonders if one day we will return to the clouds, and the illuminated windows will form a new sky on the slopes of the mountains.
About the photographer
Federico Aimar was born in Italy in 1989 where he lives and works. He graduated in photography and visual communication at the IED in Turin. He was selected in 2016 to collaborate with Magnum and Alex Webb in the photographic documentation of the new UNESCO site Langhe, Roero and Monferrato.
He has published in several online magazines and exhibited in some important fairs in his city.
www.federicoaimar.com
IG: @federico_aimar
