Finisterrae is a multi-chaptered project about Southern European identity and the state of crisis that it is in. This first chapter is focused on the ancient region on Lusitania in today’s Portugal.

The point of departure for my visual research is neither the present nor the crisis, but instead I am looking at the former Lusitanian territory in order to reflect upon the origins of Europe. The areas that the project is about have common roots, history and religion and have over the centuries shaped a big part of the European culture, as we know it today. I am taking on a point of view which does not clearly mark a specific period of time but that takes the Mediterranean as a whole and look at it across the centuries, starting in Portugal.

Moving across Finisterrae, this »end of the world«, left me with a strong feeling of abandonment, like a place that is condemned to remain as it is, motionless.
I set out to capture this claustrophobic atmosphere in my images and decontextualize the subjects by representing them as statue-like cultic figures, creating a sense of timelessness by depriving them from any action. The landscapes on the other hand seem to be the only testimonies of time passing.

All images ©Michele Palazzi