what remains of the summers i knew

2026 · Portofino

what remains of the summers i knew

A series made along the Ligurian coast across several visits, on 35mm and medium format film. Portofino appears here not as a destination but as a lived place, shaped by memory, absence, and return.

The photographs in this series were not made to document a place. They were made to recover something from it: the residue of summers that exist now more as feeling than fact. Light on familiar surfaces, figures at the edge of the frame, the sea as a constant and indifferent witness.

Shot across several visits to the Ligurian coast on 35mm and medium format film, alternating colour and black and white, the work does not follow a linear sequence. It follows atmosphere instead. The images ask what remains of a place when its intensity has passed, and what it means to return to somewhere that memory has already transformed.

The series was first shown at MIA Photo Fair, Milan, in March 2026.

Agave flower spike against a pale sea, Ligurian coast, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Water from a garden tap splashing over bare feet, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Friends talking and embracing at a striped beach club party, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Sunlit variegated agave with sprawling leaves, Ligurian coast. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Lit bakery window beside an EDEN sign in a dark alley at night, Italy. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Child peering through a wrought-iron gate, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Portofino harbour and town seen through a window with a ladder, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Statue reaching toward a church bell tower at dusk, Ligurian coast. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Lighthouse glowing at dusk above the sea with an Italian flag, Ligurian coast. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Children at a piazza cafe table, a red light leak across the frame, Italy. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Child asleep on a lawn at the edge of a parquet floor, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Portofino harbour boats framed in a round mirror, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Children's bare feet on a sunlit deck beside a shadow, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Girl running barefoot along a garden path past hydrangeas, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Two girls leaping off a boat into a blue cove, Ligurian coast. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Children eating around a garden table in summer, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Clifftop garden and swimming pool above a dark sea, Ligurian coast, Italy. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Young girl in a floral dress looking away on a bench, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Woman crouching to share a gelato with a child outside a shop, black and white, Italy. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

Woman in a white shirt and pearls laughing, framed at the shoulders, black and white. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel

A PIZZA sign lying on the cobbles among empty cafe chairs, black and white, Italy. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel