Fuoricampo Napoli

1997

This work was commissioned to a group of photographers by Naples Town Council. My contribution was to try and pass beyond the worn out clichè about Neapolitans, by photographing the suburban landscape of Naples through the goalposts of its football grounds. During an on-the-spot inspection I had noticed that the suburban areas, the larger part of the terrain vague that town planners and anthropologists talk of, was not vague at all but in many cases contained football grounds. The outskirts of Naples is ringed by improvised football grounds, set up with salvage material: tubes, wooden posts, anything that could be used for posts. From this observation I deduced that one cannot really talk of derelict areas in the Neapolitan suburbs because the suburban territory is also often subjected to constant control. I photographed about thirty landscapes, taken from their respective goalposts and at the same distance. The two landscapes, framed by the goalposts, are one in front of the other. I wanted to realise a classic work of landscape photography, though through those opening and with no choice of view. I chose a method, a lens, or rather a viewfinder, through which to look at reality.