I need silence
like you who read with thought
not aloud
the sound of my own voice
would now be noise
not words but just annoying sound
that distracts me from thinking.
— Alda Merini
Seeking silence inwardly some time ago I felt like a tumultuous sky full of clouds threatening big thunderstorms. I felt the strong desire to hear what “noise” silence has. I could no longer remember. Such a whirling daily life was slowly leading me to be a stranger to myself and to the people around me. Every thought or gesture of mine was sterile, no longer transmitting emotions.
We are always immersed in noise and surrounded by people’s voices; noises distracting, moving away. I was seeking silence, to find myself, recognize myself in my lost identity.
One afternoon in March 2017 I sought silence on a beach in the Italian province of Ferrara, on the Adriatic Sea. I was looking for a beach unknown to me, unspoiled, without footprints. I was looking to get emotions as I used to in the past, to discover beauty in front of a simple landscape, in silence.
Remaining still and hearing just the sound of the sea, looking up into the sky at clouds full of rain well reflecting my mood, I felt very fragile; I was looking for my inner self. In that silence, I set out to photograph while recalling a few verses of a poem I deeply love entitled “I Need Silence” by the Italian poet Alda Merini. I wanted to transpose into every single photograph my state of mind, my feeling of disquiet, my bewilderment.
— Enzo Crispino, Emilia Romagna, Italy
