The uninhabited village

"Usually when I shoot, I don't have a very precise idea of what I'm doing. When I look at the pictures again after a long time, I notice details that I had missed – or perhaps captured on a subconscious level. In this case, I was struck by the similarity of this photograph to some of the work of the artist Maurits Cornelis Escher. In fact, Escher is an artist that I have particularly appreciated for years, going to his exhibitions, buying books of his work. I think this photograph has a double meaning. On the one hand, it seems to me to be an evocative photograph. When you look at it, you are guided by the complexity of the shapes, by the geometry and you are seduced by the light of the sunset. This photograph could be an aerial photograph of a post-apocalyptic landscape. It could also be a land art installation or a contemporary work exhibited 'en plein air'.

We're in front of a detail of a half-destroyed building. It's part of a village that has never been inhabited. It's one of many examples of speculation and the waste of public money. The village is located in Aspromonte, in the middle of that incredible mountain range at the tip of the Italian boot. This village, like many others, was planned in a complex way, including a school within it. Sadly, no child has ever attended.

I like this image and find it representative of a certain way of interpreting photography, precisely because it is both evocative – anyone looking at it can read different meanings into it – but it also has content that could be part of a documentary photography work."