I shot this series with Isabella Lareddola (@forsecisono on Instagram) in a greenhouse in my neighbourhood in Palermo, southern Italy. I’ve been wanting to shoot some portraits in this location for years and finally, just a week before moving to Berlin, I had the chance to do so with Isabella.
These portraits are my goodbye letter to my hometown, they are full of love, warmth and a growing nostalgia. They capture the feeling of the end of Summer and of my years living here. I love looking at these pictures and seeing Isabella surrounded by plants, flowers and this warm light that radiate a sense of serenity. So I’m incredibly glad that the last portraits I managed to shoot in Palermo display my feelings so well.
“Per non appassire” also refers to the necessity I had of starting a new journey far from home, in order to give myself a new beginning and to hopefully bloom.
My name is Manto Prestipino (@heymanto on Instagram), I’m a 26 years old Italian girl now based in Berlin..
I’ve started taking pictures during my teenage years, so photography has kept me company for a while now. Being an introvert, it helped me to express a lot of feelings and thoughts without having to say anything out loud. Around the age of 18 I started shooting with cheap disposable cameras with my boyfriend, just to collect our moments together. Shortly after that, a dear friend of mine gifted me his father’s old Nikon FE, giving me the opportunity to fall in love with the whole process of shooting film. I will never thank him enough for that.
