The most beautiful night of my life

"The most beautiful night of my life" is a story about ageing and the role of photographs on our own memories. It is a personal research about my identity, family and the relationship between photography, time and humanity. During last summer I documented the daily life of my grandparents, Cecilia and Alessandro. After an active and full life their days are now shaped by a quietly graceful routine however an increased deterioration of their health is making their life a little more difficult. The observation and regret about the progressive clouding of their mind, which is at present relatively light, gives me reason to ask for their help to better know their life and my own family history. To hear once again the stories that they told me when I was a child. The photographs I submitted are part of a self-published photo book, which is my final project for the Master Photojournalism and Documentary Photography 2014 at London College of Communication. The book contains two different approaches to the topic. The present isn’t enough to clearly represent the character of two elderly Italians, children of a time that is quickly disappearing. Hence I decided to write Alessandro and Cecilia’s story also looking at the way in which old photographs represent them and the way they kept their oldest memories through photographs: a personal story written through the evolution of photographic materials. The purpose of the project, as a whole, is to remind the audience about the importance of photography as a look way of through the past and on its role as memory keeper. My hope is that also future generations will have the opportunity to physically touch their past, as I was lucky enough to do.