Milella’s photography shows us the physiognomy of a landscape as determined by its physical, anthropological, biological and ethnic characteristics resulting out of the constant action and interaction between nature and mankind. There is a layering of themes and periods, of structures and relics, of nature and manufactured, of the urban and the rural, of beauty and decay, of intimacy and distance, of modernity and antiquity, of the present and of the passage of time.
My intention for the Discovery Award 2011 in Arles is to show a selection of the most concise and evocative images of my body of work. I have been photographing landscapes, human as well as natural, for ten years now. On this occasion I would like to show a selection of the most important images of this decade. A concept, a skeleton, a chronology of the themes, subjects and layers that constitute my vision and quest. I would like to create a simple index that shows the consistency and wideness of my project. I would like to be able to compress this idea in thirty small photographs and a couple of very large works. I would like to show a horizon of small images that connect my whole body of work: from city views of Italy, Mexico City, Ankara and Cairo, as far as marginal and natural views of Sicily, Tunisia, Albania and Turkey. What is contemporary about these places? What history and memory do they hold? Identity, memory and history are the roots of these landscapes and the core of my visions. For me, it’s a great privilege to photograph landscapes, it’s a possibility to enrich my sense of orientation in the middle of such a confused and fast contemporary age. I trust the language of things, nature and architecture. I feel the need of an alternative imagery, looking for a sense of identity, a culture that is modern and old at the same time. A vision that should be easy to share with others.
