Of Dust and Light

Seeing, over time

  • Aspromonte

    Aspromonte, Calabria

    I thought I was lost in the woods.

    Two traditional musicians from the Aspromonte mountains in Calabria perform among the silver firs—one playing the zampogna, the other a tambourine—in a timeless black-and-white scene that captures the soul of southern Italy’s folk heritage.

  • Recognized

    Brancaleone Superiore, Calabria

    I lived on the coast, about five kilometers away, but I kept coming back. Each climb shifted something.

    A cat watched me from a broken window, tail flicking, unimpressed. Maybe it recognized me.

    Interior of the Armenian cave church in Brancaleone Superiore, Calabria, with rough stone walls, a central pillar, and natural light streaming through the doorway into the dim chamber.

    Goat bells echoed off the walls. An old man once told me, amused, “We kept livestock in here.”

    The air smelled of damp stone.
    Sunlight slid along the wall and caught me in the frame.

    Silhouette of a photographer projected in vivid orange light on the rough stone wall of an Armenian cave church in Brancaleone Superiore, Calabria, surrounded by dark rock pillars and shadows.

  • Rob_arkt

    Brancaleone, Calabria

    I spotted her high on a scaffold lift, brush in hand, painting the worn façade of a public housing block.

    Roberta Fiorito, known as Rob_arkt, stands on scaffolding while painting a large mural on the weathered façade of a public housing block in Brancaleone, Calabria. The wall shows peeling plaster and faded colors, now being transformed by her brush.

    I watched her work. No spray cans. Just the brush, moving slowly. Time settled into each stroke.

    “Why the brush?” I asked.

    She smiled. “It’s slower than spray paint,” she said, “but more precise. I prefer it.”

    “Can I share the photo?”

    She nodded. “Sure. Just use my pseudonym.”
    She gave it to me: Rob_arkt.