Delving beneath the surface of everyday life, Andrea Simonato explores a world of underground caves and stone quarries in his second monograph, Antro. Historically prompting a wide array of interpretations -such as sacred boundaries between the human and divine, practical places of refuge or dwellings of the supernatural- caves have attracted countless cultures due to their distinctly ambiguous qualities. Today, these underground structures offer a stark contrast to the precisely defined nature of our above-ground surroundings. The entanglement of corridors and caverns seemingly strip themselves of worldly notions and, in their presence, ask us to do the same. Wandering through a cluster in the hills of South Vicenza, Italy, Andrea delicately approaches both the intricacies and magnitude of these spaces. “During the time of the pandemic, I made a habit of climbing the paths leading to the caves and abandoned quarries in the hills near my home. I couldn't say exactly what drove me to go all the way back there each time, perhaps it was just a way of distancing myself from what was happening. There was a calmness and a sense of stability in those places that somehow contrasted the uncertainty and emotional chaos of those months. Entering them and surrendering to their silence and shadows was like stepping into another world and leaving everything else behind, at least for a while.”
