Document Change

It is said that the only constant in life is change.

That is true for cities as well. They never stop changing, for better or for worse.

In 2021 I captured Ephemeral, whose title turned out to be just perfect.

Detail of Ephemeral.

An unknown street artist made the painting of a woman’s face on an electrical cabinet in Via Torino, Milan. It’s been there for ages – pretty much for as long as I can remember.

Yesterday I discovered that it’s gone.

The electrical cabinet was replaced with a brand new one and only part of the woman’s chin survives on the concrete base.

Maybe it will be painted again – who knows?

What’s certain is that Ephemeral captures something unique and no longer visible. I have no idea if there are other pictures of that painting, but to me, this event serves as a reminder that photography, beyond any artistic goals, was invented to document and preserve the world. Let’s keep doing that.