First edition of Brilla sempre by Matteo de Mayda (2025)

First impression 

Large format paperback in new condition 

Exposed spine

24x30 cm

48 pages

About

My mother passed away on March 28, 2023, after eighteen years of illness. Her name was Serenella. Her identity card listed her as a “cleaner.” She earned a living cleaning buildings—stairs, courtyards, parking lots—in Treviso, our hometown in Northeast Italy. She would clean tirelessly, then come to pick me up from school on her Ciao moped, the kind you had to pedal to start. She rotated a series of identical tank tops, a sort of uniform. I remember her, glowing with sweat and happiness.

In the months after her death, I photographed the places where she had worked, places she had taken me to as a child. It felt like group therapy, the building managers were the therapists, the residents their patients. Each of them had a fond memory of her.