The Star of Boötes

The Star of Boötes is a long-term project set in the houses that my family lives in, the place where most of all people experience loneliness, reflecting a childless society. Italy, 400,249 children were born in 2021, a new negative record. 35.79 is the average age of fathers in the same year. 26 is the age in which I had my first child, Arturo, 10 years ahead of the national average. Saturday, three years ago, my partner, Agnese, bought a pregnancy test and we discovered we were pregnant. There was no surprise but happiness, because against all statistics it was a conscious choice. With fears and unknowns but wanted. Having children and having them when young is a rarity. Even today that I’m 29, the other fathers at the nursery are 40, friends, far from starting a family, seem almost displaced, distances are getting worse, priorities are different and this inevitably leads to a distance that I felt the need to tell. Remnants of life where time is dilated and reduced at the same time, faces change, houses change, emotions are transformed, perception changes. Like fetuses in the womb, they feel and are connected to their surroundings, but the outside is only a distant echo. – a sta