I’ve often reflected about the differences between love and devotion. I came to realize that people love physical things, such as a person, a place, food, or even certain activities. But devotion is usually attributable to non-physical things like ideas, philosophies, or ways of life, religions as well also fall in this domain. During the course of history, countless houses of devotional worship were built Incorporating amazing decorations and iconographies in order to transport and heighten one’s subjective connection to experience these non-tangibles. Like populations and migrations, the adherence to philosophies and religions can come and go. I was born in a time and cultural context where many Catholic practices were being abandoned by younger and more “scientific” and rational generations. As contemporary modernity evolved many devotional church sites fell into disuse and disrepair and then eventually closed due to financial and safety concerns.
“After entering these unused and abandoned cult sites I somehow cannot but help to imagine myself feeling past devotions still reverberating in these rooms.”
After entering these unused and abandoned cult sites, when my photo assistants for one reason or another have left the room, and I am left there briefly alone, I somehow cannot but help to imagine myself feeling past devotions still reverberating in these rooms. In these most private moments, I imagine and hear the superimposed cumulative wails of the praying multitudes and wonder if those prayers were ever heard? Somehow I think I still hear their echoes murmur. Words by Robert Polidori written on the plane when about to land in Naples for the exhibition opening.
