Utilizing a large-format camera and employing exposures of up to five minutes in natural light, Polidori is able to produce intricately detailed images at scale. As he explores rooms as metaphors for states of being, what at first might be mistaken for elaborate decorative motifs, painted to adorn a wealthy family’s accommodation, are revealed by Polidori to be imbued with a deeper force, acting as iterations of memory systems for whole cultures. Acting as a medium, Polidori reveals to us these interlacing layers of the past.
The Roman city of Pompeii, which lies at the foot of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius, has been largely preserved in ash since its eruption in 79 AD, and has been the site of excavation from 1909 onwards. Polidori photographed these in 2017.