Since I was a little boy I had a fascination for maps. I spent whole hours watching the Amazonas complex of rivers, figuring out the best way to cross it or looking at USA deserts, their long and straight stretches of road. I had this huge Atlas that I read as it was a novel, passing hours on one single map.
In the fixed design of a map I see a sort of superior order, a quiet place in which to find a safe shelter, far from the dangerous chaos of everyday life. The lines of a road often have for me the immaterial and mysterious charm of an artistic painting. Planning a trip on a map is often a real pleasure: sometimes better then the real thing. Electronic gadgets, Google Maps, Gps etc did not spoil the experience: they just add a new dimension.
I’ve been on many roads. I’ve had my favourites ones and they changed as the years were passing by. So many are still unexplored. Few things in life make me happier than drive a car or ride a motorbike on a nice road.
“Road to Nowhere” is a free digital photobook with texts. All the chapters will be periodically published on this same blog.