Photographer Francesco Lupo is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary photography. From the project ‘Ingenium’. To see Francesco’s body of work, click on any photograph.

Faces

Ingenium

(UK, US) IPA: /ˈɛnd͡ʒɪn/

From Middle English engyn, from Anglo-Norman engine, Old French engin (“skill, cleverness, war machine”), from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature, genius, a genius, an invention, (in Late Latin) a war-engine, battering-ram”), from ingenitum, past participle of ingignō (“to instil by birth, implant, produce in”). Compare gin, ingenious, engineer.

A complex mechanical device which converts energy into useful motion or physical effects. [from 16th c.]

People

Campobasso is a quiet city in central Italy that transforms itself during the days of the “Mysteries”. It is impossible to say what the mysteries of Campobasso really are. From a religious point of view it is the Corpus Domini procession, present in every part of Italy and the Catholic world, from a social, folkloristic point of view, it is alienating. In the previous days, the whole city is thrilled and is involved in the preparation of the “wits”. The idea of these structures dates back to the 16th century and they consist of a main axis, which develops vertically, joined by interlocking joints with secondary branches ending at each end with slings which support children, apparently suspended in the empty, dressed in costumes representing angels, devils, saints and Madonna by masking the harnesses.

Experiencing this event as a “foreigner” makes the locals appear as a single body, united by tradition and passion, moving through the narrow streets of the historic center of the city. The project, entirely in analogue, is divided into three parts: the faces of the characters, the people on the street and the religious aspect.

Sacred

All photos were taken using a Leica R7 and Kodak Professional 400TX film.

Francesco Lupò

Eastern Sicily, August nineteen-eighty-three.

I was born between the Ionian Sea and Mount Etna, surrounded by saltiness and volcanic ashes, which fall down like rain, even more often than rain.

I am tirelessly trying to focus on the essence of street photography, made of chaos and movement, on landscape photography, made of harmony and meditation, and on architectural photography.

My background in architectural studies leads me to discover abandoned, often unexplored, places, in the attempt to give them that sense of dignity and redemption they probably would never receive.

“Beauty will save the world.”  (Fëdor Dostoevskij, 1869)

All images and text © Francesco Lupo