Matter

2026

In Trieste, Matter explores the human labour behind the transformation of buildings and urban spaces. Through gestures, bodies, materials and traces of everyday work, the project moves away from the finished structure to focus on the people who make it possible. Bricklayers, technicians and construction workers help build and transform the places we inhabit, yet they rarely occupy the centre of our attention. Through their portraits, sometimes elevated on improvised pedestals made from materials found on site, I seek to give them a different position: no longer in the background of architecture, but at the centre of the narrative. Manual labour emerges as a tangible presence, shaped by experience, effort and knowledge. A deeply human dimension that cannot be reduced to a finished result or easily replaced by technology. Trieste's landscape, with its rooftops, the sea and its distinctive geography, becomes part of a broader transformation in which people, architecture and the city are interconnected. Matter is an ongoing exploration of material and those who shape it, but above all of the people whose work contributes, day after day, to building the world we inhabit. To see more about this project contact me.