About

My name is Nicola Polloni. I live in Sicily, where I teach medieval philosophy at the university. For most of my career the two activities ran in parallel: philosophy as profession, photography as a private practice carried through several years of living and travelling – from Morocco to China, from Newcastle to Messina. Over time I came to feel they were the same inquiry in two modes. My philosophical work concerns matter and form: how things hold together, how they persist, how they fail. Photography lets me put those questions to what is actually in front of me – beaches, machines, façades, people at work and at rest – where no text has prepared the answers. Hylonicum is the result: not an illustration of the philosophy, and not a pastime beside it, but the same questions continued with a camera.

What interests me is presence and absence: the way the ordinary arranges itself, rather than the extraordinary event. I am drawn less to isolated decisive moments than to situations — their accumulation, repetitions, and dissonances, and the patterns they form when nobody is performing. It is in this way that photography continues my philosophical work: by pursuing what underlies, persists, and resists direct grasp.

Far from being a commercial space or a display case, Hylonicum is more like a workshop and a notebook: a place for looking slowly, questioning what one sees, and occasionally losing one’s footing in the process. Yet it is also a project, and like any constructive project it is structurally open to collaboration – if that interests you, see Collaborations.

CONTACT

Whether it’s a collaboration, a question about a photograph, a licensing enquiry, or simply a thought you’d like to share, feel free to write to hylonicum@gmail.com. I read everything and reply personally, usually within a few days. You can also follow Hylonicum on Instagram and 小红书 (RedNote).

Image Use Policy

Copyright and Use

All photographs on this website are © Nicola Polloni. All rights reserved. No image may be reproduced, distributed, published, altered, or used for editorial or commercial purposes without the author’s prior written permission. For licensing, permitted use, or collaboration enquiries, please get in touch via the contact page.

Street Photography Notice

Many of the photographs presented on this website are taken in public spaces and form part of an artistic and documentary practice. They are published for non-commercial, cultural, and artistic purposes. If you appear in an image and would prefer that it be removed, please contact me through the contact page. Requests will be considered promptly and respectfully.