Antonio Primitera LA NOSTALGIA

Antonio Privitera fell in love with street photography as a post-collegiate wanderer, but he always harbored fond memories of the beach in his homeland of Sicily. So for “La Nostalgia,” his latest project featuring blackand-white diptychs, the Italian photographer took his street-shooting style to the beaches along the Adriatic Sea, fascinated by the grotesque beauty of its old, wrinkled bodies. “It's pretty vintage,” Privitera says of the Adriatic coast. “The looks and age of the people, it has a really nostalgic mood.”

Privitera captures contemplative yet candid moments. “I get bored after one second if I ask you, ‘Can I take your picture?’” Privitera says. For the series, he spent countless hours on the beach, but it was in the edit where “La Nostalgia” came alive. Printing out black-and-white contact sheets, he’d spread out groups of images on a piece of canvas he’d lay on the floor, spending weeks mixing and matching images, looking for a connection. He’d play around with shapes, considering the geometry of his subjects and their setting. Each pair of images is in conversation with themselves, creating a single frame from separate moments. It’s not always literal or direct, but Privitera’s talent lies in drawing emotional connections between images.

Privitera plans to spend one more summer shooting at the beach for “La Nostalgia” before compiling his diptychs into a book. But the project’s completion is unlikely to dampen his enthusiasm for shooting candid moments. “I can't predict the reality, the magic of life,” he says. “That's why I am always interested in what's next.”

— Matthew Ismael Ruiz

Photos © Antonio Privitera antonioprivitera.com