Poeninus

Dolomites and Rhaetian Alps

Michele Caliari

In this study on the Alps, it’s not only the landscape that’s the subject of interest, but also the role mountains play in human fantasy. Whether cultural tradition or personal experience, childhood memory or commercialization, it’s impossible to resist the pull of the mountain landscape. In reality, however, the mountain doesn’t call to us at all: it’s a desolate place full of danger, omnipresent and uncanny. At the same time, it reflects a sense of sublimity. To an extent, we see ourselves in its image, in its surfaces. The photographer observes the rock formations in the massif, Alpinists pursue an ideal line to the summit, while the mountain’s physiognomy becomes a key for unlocking the secret – if, indeed, a secret exists. Nearly all cultures have revered a god of the mountains. The Romans borrowed him from the Celts and called him Poeninus. His body is full of the signs we’ve left behind in order to return to the place where we don’t belong, but where we felt complete for one moment.