S E C R E T    G A R D E N S

I learned to love the gardens, their changing beauty, shimmering in the rhythm of the seasons. I am fascinated by the nature of the garden, which surrounds and protects from the outside. It preserves. You enter into a garden with silence and respect, aware that it should not be stepped on, that flowers are not to be uprooted. A garden is a space of silent contemplation, almost a sacred place. I like to think that the women of my photographs live in a ‘Secret Garden’ of their own, a protected and enclosed space, which we can only approach with care and patience. It takes patience and care for the women I portray to talk about themselves. They don’t exhibit their feelings, but prefer instead to barely whisper them, between the shadows and the light, they let those feelings be glimpsed in the silent play of leaves and flowers. I like to use flowers and plants in my photography, their delicate structure allowing me to hint at the inner world of my protagonists. Even when the garden is not there, it can erupt from within, almost like a flower that suddenly materializes on the body of my slender muses. The mental place where they feel safe blossoms in the physical space inhabited by their bodies.