Ghosts in the Field

An exploration of life in rural Salento.

Ghosts in the Field is an exploration of life in rural Salento. I’ve been visiting and photographing Salento, in southern Puglia, every summer for the past ten years, staying with my wife’s family in Cocumola, a small village 10km inland from the coast. During that time I’ve witnessed the place change dramatically. Up until a few years ago Puglia produced nearly half of Italy’s olive oil, but a deadly plant pathogen, Xylella, thought to have been transported from South America on imported coffee plants, has decimated nearly all the region’s ancient olive trees and in turn the local agricultural economy. Alongside this, Puglia is the fastest growing tourist destination in the European Union. A place that once seemed to exist out of step with the modern world is changing, and with it a generation’s aspirations and lifestyles.