Giovanna Silva explains: “I’ve always had a passion for photographing water. I say passion because I like swimming. Actually it’s more of an obsession than a pleasure. I’ve photographed coastlines during long swims in the sea. I emerge from the water and photograph the people sunbathing, some jagged coasts like a natural sculpture, and natural reflections. It’s a way to pass the time and not feel the fatigue. When they asked me to photograph the swimming pools of Capri, I accepted because it sounded like the paradox I’ve been looking for – something artificial on a natural paradise island. Leaving behind the images of the Faraglioni sea stacks, I began the site inspections on land. This time it wasn’t about plunging into the water, but about seeing the water from outside, describing these places as I’ve always done in my work, but finding a key. I used a Polaroid to try and compose abstract pictures but without letting myself play with the technique, which is very basic with this kind of camera. Forgetting about context, I concentrated on the details of these swimming pools, on the colours, shapes and materials. I collected about 100 polaroids. In the evening, I displayed them in the hotel and arranged them on the floor so they could dry out. During those days, I wondered what the maids must have thought when they came in to clean the room, which had been turned into a mosaic of pools. I matched them up and found the same shapes, forgetting about the origins of the pool, and instead creating abstract pictures by colour and type. For every picture, the result is a single swimming pool made of many different pools.”