Simone Pepe

Brescia Underground is a photographic exploration of the hidden waterways beneath the city of Brescia, following the underground courses of the Bova and Celato rivers. Beneath streets, squares and buildings, these rivers continue to flow silently, shaping the city from below while remaining largely unseen.

The project moves through tunnels, canals and cavities where water, stone and infrastructure coexist in a fragile balance. These spaces reveal a parallel city: a system of invisible architectures built over centuries to control, divert and live alongside water.

Through low light, confined perspectives and close attention to textures and reflections, the series focuses on atmosphere rather than spectacle. Human presence is minimal or indirect, leaving room for the material traces of maintenance, time and flow.

Brescia Underground reflects on the idea of infrastructure as memory. What lies beneath the city is not only functional, but deeply connected to its past and future. By entering these spaces, the project invites a reconsideration of what sustains urban life and how much of it remains intentionally hidden, yet essential.

AfterPrison is a photographic exploration of the former San Vito convent and prison in Agrigento, a place that has moved from faith to punishment and now toward cultural rebirth. Built in the 15th century as a Franciscan convent and later transformed into a prison that remained active until the 1990s, the site carries layers of memory in its walls, corridors and courtyards.

Today the building is being reopened as a cultural and community hub, hosting art, social innovation and public events. My project follows this transition: from a space of isolation and control to a space of encounter, creativity and shared belonging.

Through a mix of architectural details, atmospheric views and quiet portraits, AfterPrison looks at how light, bodies and everyday gestures slowly rewrite the meaning of the place. The series is a visual reflection on what happens when a former prison is finally returned to the city: not as a monument to forget, but as a living environment where collective memory, care and imagination can coexist.