demi.night.w

In a remote Italian hilltown, I did a residency exploring and documenting the series of caves, cisterns, carved cellars and grottos in this pre-post eutruscain village. Known as il paese che muore (the dying city), Civita is an interesting ghost town almost frozen in time, acting as a defacto  hilltown reliquary. A series of temporary installations and subsequent photographs were created from these caves- many containing “colombari” or dovecotes. In the Middle Ages, these colombari: dove nesting condos were developed to provide protein in the form of eggs and meat at all times, but especially when the towns were cut off due to a siege.  Hundreds of these small nesting holes were carefully carved into the tufa to create homes for these birds.  Located half way up a cliff face, allowed the birds to have a protected home with ample ventilation and flying access far away from terrestrial predators.  The candle installation was created on the Day of the Dead, and the candles were recycled for the villages’ cemetery celebration.

In a remote Italian hilltown, I did a residency exploring and documenting the series of caves, cisterns, carved cellars and grottos in this pre-post eutruscain village. Known as il paese che muore (the dying city), Civita is an interesting ghost town almost frozen in time, acting as a defacto hilltown reliquary. A series of temporary installations and subsequent photographs were created from these caves- many containing “colombari” or dovecotes. In the Middle Ages, these colombari: dove nesting condos were developed to provide protein in the form of eggs and meat at all times, but especially when the towns were cut off due to a siege. Hundreds of these small nesting holes were carefully carved into the tufa to create homes for these birds. Located half way up a cliff face, allowed the birds to have a protected home with ample ventilation and flying access far away from terrestrial predators. The candle installation was created on the Day of the Dead, and the candles were recycled for the villages’ cemetery celebration.