Winter Rites is a long-term project dedicated to Basilicata and its winter rituals, begun in 2010 and published in 2021 as a volume by Graficom Edizioni of Matera.
Our approach combines direct documentation of events — primarily Carnival parades — with a deeper exploration of the landscape and anthropological context surrounding them. This broader research shaped the book’s structure:
Landscape and Winter. Basilicata draws us with its remarkable variety of landscapes, and winter adds an intimacy to the travel experience. We felt the need to go beyond documentation and stage some scenes — with the complicity of masks from Aliano and Tricarico during a particularly harsh winter — to make visible the deep bond between Carnival and the season. These images open the book (Winter section).
The People. The individuals who keep these traditions alive — rediscovering old ones or inventing new forms — are at the heart of the project. We were struck by how many people, including the very young, still seek the social and physical togetherness that ritual provides, even in an era of increasingly virtual relationships.
The Carnivals. One challenge is that most events are concentrated around just two dates: Sant’Antonio Abate (January 17) and Shrove Tuesday. Another is the extreme diversity of what gets grouped under “Lucanian Carnivals” — a diversity shaped by the region’s history and geography. We approached documentation as an ongoing archive, aiming to cover at least one location each year.
Portraits. As we became more familiar with the world of the masks, we wanted to photograph them formally — posed against a neutral paper backdrop, much as we do in our commercial work — isolating them from context and capturing sessions in the quiet moments before the parade begins (white backdrop section),
sud archive: 